Grimm Developments
by Andoriol
Summary: "Summer was supposed to die on that mission, she expected to really. But she didn't. She made a friend. The next question was whether she could get herself and her savior home. But it seemed her new friend had a bit of a... Grimm disposition–" "Damnit Yang that wasn't funny the first time!"
1. Grimm Beginnings 1

**A.N.)-** I include snippets of music in this for the sake of humor and awesomeness. Unfortunately there's no good way to link mid-story on . If you see a [#] it corresponds to the list at end of the chapter and you can use good ole Ctrl + F to jump between the two.

By the way. Fuck authors notes.

* * *

Light…? No… not light…?

Uuuggghhhh…

Was that… a big thing of black and white…? Grimm…?

Blackness encroached.

No, I needed... fight...

-oOo-

"So my options are panic, panic like a bitch, panic like a fuckface, panic like a loser, or put my big girl panties on and man up."

I stood at the top of the steps, looking out at the forest, the trees stretched high into the air, nearly fifty feet at the smallest. Dwarfing the structure I was standing at the entrance of, the canopy of coniferous trees blotting out much of the otherwise clear blue sky.

"… really wish I could panic."

I had _no_ fucking clue where I was.

Work clothes, pretty and fancy but not super useful for survival. The servers apron, and accompanying pen and pad could be useful though. Keys. Wallet. Phone. Thankfully had my car, which meant I had a crowbar, jack, knife, and some munchies... but the thing had been wrecked in my arrival.

And I mean _wrecked_. It had definitely not been built to be dropped from who knows how high up nose first onto a stone floor. Glad it had dropped onto its wheels though rather than the roof, took me a few minutes to get up and going after getting a facefull of airbag... again.

A glance behind me as I tried to get my bearings, my head craning upwards. The structure was vaguely Mayan in design, though I saw hints of what looked more like Olmec aesthetics in it as well, and it was built into a cliff face... the crystals didn't seem to be anything inherently artificial outside of their natural glow and cut, but some were actually rather rough cut... it was… strange.

"So... where am I? This ain't candid camera..." I muttered to myself, I'd never been to South America, but I was pretty sure pines weren't indigenous... and while I was essentially talking out of my ass about what kind of design the structure had, it was definitely South American.

… so where the fuck was I?

With a sigh, I pantomimed hoisting panties on over my pants, "Right, first order of business is water. Then food. I've got shelter in the structure and my car just to be sure. Just don't get lost."

A shuddering breath escaped me, "Right... just don't get lost."

-oOo-

The world faded in and out for me… I could… my cloak was draped across me like a blanket…?

"Ugh… what… what was…?" My throat _ached_ as I tried to speak...

It was… it was stained crimson with my blood… where was I…?

A... a cavern...?

Blackness overtook me once more…

-oOo-

[1] "Shiver my timbers shiver my soul…" murmuring to myself, likely horrendously off key, helped fill the silence.

Super glad I buy for quality. My undershirt is pretty tough as were my dress pants. I'd left my dress shirt in the car just in case I needed the fabric at some other time.

Also? Super glad I was obsessed with Suvivorman for a while there.

Spear? Made. Not super hard.

Fire? Strip some wires form the battery and smack them together _carefully_ around some tinder and properly arranged sticks and get a fire bundle started.

The creatures of the forest were skittish, but I could get within a surprisingly close distance to them. But not throwing distance yet.

I actually found water in the structure, which seemed almost like a temple really. There weren't any beds or quarters or anything. I'd arrived in a big circular room with a bunch of designs on the floor and a bunch of those multicolored glowing crystals on the ceiling. There were seven hallways leading off from it, six in a hexagonal arrangement and one just… not. That last one was bigger and led outside, and if my car was functional it'd have fit, but the other hallways were too narrow for the vehicle to get through.

Each of the smaller hallways ended in another, smaller circular room with… well, an element of one kind or another in it. Definitely temple like. In one, there was a perpetual flame at the center of the circle with a bunch of those glowing red crystals around it, in another there was a pool of water and a bunch of blue crystals, another had a floating boulder and a bunch of yellow crystals, another had a perpetual dust devil and the green crystals, those all made sense. But two more of them had one with blinding light and another that was perpetually dark…

So… a six elemental system? I dunno. It was weird.

But yeah, the water was pure. Hoped it wasn't poisonous or anything, and it seemed perpetual since I was able to refil the cup I'd had in my car multiple times without an obvious dip in levels.

I'd been able to rip off a hubcap and with some careful stick arrangement turn it into a frying pan, no rivers to catch fish in though yet.

Pulling the pad from my pocket, I glanced over it and made a mark on it about paces before putting a mark in the tree I was beside with my knife.

Right, back to spiraling outwards, exploring the area around where I'd arrived. Still no visible existence of humans outside of the initial structure. The lack of path to it was very disconcerting though. At least none I could discern.

"Five six seven eight… bula shaka bula shaka bula shaka…"

-oOo-

Smoke… I could smell smoke…

My eyes slowly cracked open, there was a small fire before me…? Where… where was I…?

Last I remember was going to… going to fight off a goliath… I'd been the only hunter free and close enough to intercept…

I tried to lift my arm, but it refused to move, trembling in place weakly beneath my cloak…

And there'd been this strange Grimm… what had happened…?

Stopping in my attempts, I eased back to the ground of the… cave?

No... it was big... almost a cavern... I was... towards the back I think...? The entryway was huge and the fire was between me and it...

But the effort to move had taken more out of me than I'd thought, and darkness overtook me again in moments.

-oOo-

[2] "Mii mi mii mi mi mi mi mi mi mi mi mi miiii mi mi."

Endurance hunting, surprisingly effective after you make a good spear throw and just take it nice and slow.

Mind you, poor fucking deer, but I was fucking hungry. Only got one good shot at it, this was my third spear and fifteenth attempt at spearing something, on day six of being here, but hey, progress was progress.

The doe was laying on the ground, chest heaving and its body damp with blood… felt kinda bad honestly, but fuck I was hungry. Get close enough to stab it in the throat, help it bleed out faster, then wait and heft its carcass back to the temple to clean and prepare it. Hope I remembered those limited lessons my grandpa had been able to give me…

-oOo-

What… were these dreams…?

I could feel consciousness returning to me again… my aura was… _dangerously_ low. I didn't even need to touch my scroll to know that.

But… these dreams...? What were they?

So much confusion and fear…

I needed to get home. But first I needed to get better…

My head eased to one side and then the other, my hair falling in front of my face, the dark red obscuring my vision momentarily as I took in my surroundings better… definitely a cave… there was a firepit not far away from me… the fire was low, but didn't look like it'd be going out anytime soon… but I didn't see any bedding or anything else to indicate it was lived in aside from the fire… no, wait, there was some branches and furs over there… but that was a _big_ bed… what…?

I made an attempt to sit up, but my body refused to cooperate and I had to ease back to the… furs? I was on top of furs.

So I was definitely being taken care of by someone, but I couldn't see any indication of who… if it was another Huntsman, then why hadn't they called for help or transport…?

I couldn't think of any really good reason… if their scroll was damaged maybe… as well as mine… but they hadn't helped against the Goliath… I remembered that much easily… I was the only Hunter…

The fire popped and shifted slightly, drawing my attention back to the pleasant warmth… a yawn escaped me as my eyes drifted closed once more.

I didn't _want_ to fall asleep again, but it was a struggle to stay awake…

I… I needed to get home… but my aura… it wasn't recovering…

The thought terrified me as blackness overtook my vision once more.

-oOo-

 _That_ … was not a wolf.

Peeking around the large trunk of the tree at the creature that was snuffling around in the dirt, I slid back behind the bark and into cover.

What the fuck was that?

It was probably six foot tall and two to three times my size!

I mean, what the fuck was that? No _way_ that was a bear...

I did _not_ want to engage that…. I needed to get out of here.

Carefully, I eased away from the massive creature, nearly seven feet tall and covered in shaggy black fur. Mindful of my foot placement, I crept away. I did _not_ want to be around when the winds changed, I was downwind of it now, but that was _not_ something I wanted to find out if it was a predator or not.

Shit. Shit shit shit.

Also? Shit.

It was _hunting_ me.

That was bad. That was _really_ bad.

I'd scaled a tree at the moment with the help of my knife and just hugging the damn thing to get up the trunk, and I could see the… werewolf? I'm just gonna call it a werewolf for now, even though it didn't look exactly right. Honestly, with that white mask it looked more like a Hollow.

… werewolf hollow?

… was I dead and thus a plus…?

A quick glance confirmed that, no, I didn't have a hole in my chest or a chain or anything, so that much was good.

But that damn thing was literally searching around below me…

… fuck.

Did I mention shit?

Because it was sniffing, obviously tracking… and was searching around and spiraling closer to the tree I was in.

… _fuck_.

Kind of wished I'd actually just booked it back to the temple, because then I could've…

… um… nevermind, there wasn't a whole lot I could've done really, just locked myself in my car. It wasn't like there were _doors_ to the temple or anything. Fuck.

So… this thing's hunting me. It's approaching my tree. I'm about thirty feet above it. Wat do?

Timone? Pumba? A little help? [3]

… so… waiting might work? But I was getting hungry again already. I'd spoiled some of the doe's meat by cutting the intestines out rather than just pulling them out, saved a lot of it, but I'd already gone through… all but a little really, and I with how I ate, I was already hungry.

… could I outlast it…? I didn't have any water on me…

No. No I couldn't. Did I want to take the risk of it waiting and being ready for me compared to attacking it?

I'd hurt myself, almost certainly… but…

… fuck it, if I'm going down to a monstrosity, it's by killing it or infection after making the damn attempt!

I shifted in place on the tree branch, getting into a crouch atop it, one hand gripping it as I flipped the crude spear over…

A thought, and my hand slipped to my pocket and pulled my knife out for the other hand.

… if this thing turned out to be sentient and somehow the native local intelligence and I was making a horrible mistake Imma be **so** fucking mad with myself later.

The creature started to sniff at the base of my appropriated tree and _no time like the present!_

Barely resisting the urge to _scream_ as I did, I leapt from the branch, grabbing the spear with both hands, one wrapped around both my knife and the branch as I plummeted down towards the black and white creature-!

Its head jerked up at the sound of me falling but it was too late, I plunged the tip of the sharpened stick into it, missing its neck but slamming it into the expanse of its shoulder, the wood penetrating almost a foot before my off center momentum and overly tight grip caused the spear to bend and _snap_ , sending me spilling onto the floor in a roll.

"Oof-! Fffuck–!" Spear-! Spear?! Where's my spear-? Over there and fucked, ignore it! Knife-?!

Hand! Monster is dea– _OH FUCK IT'S NOT DEAD!_

I scrambled away, eyes locked on the creature as it _roared_ at me. Oh fuck all of that!

My foot almost gave out beneath me as I got to my feet and backed away, knife held out in my left hand towards the creature as it stalked towards me with a noticeable limp, favoring its left side where my spear had impaled it. And it lunged at me-!

 _This was a bad plan!_

I threw myself below it in a tumble, scrambling between its legs as its claws passed over me, frantically getting on the other side of it and not even bothering with an offense.

Rushing off to the other side of it I spun, holding my knife out once more as the thing turned. Yeah, this was a bad plan. Because _now what?_

My chest was heaving and I felt cold and clammy as the thing's eyes fucking _glowed_ , god _damn_ that was menacing in real life from something a foot or two taller and probably two hundred pounds heavier than you…

It growled and something inside me quivered in fear, but **fuck that** , I grit my teeth and swapped my knife to my right hand, holding it out as I shifted my weight back and forth between my feet. _Box_. Dance like a butterfly and sting like a bee and shit! Figure out its range and speed and _bleed it_.

… really hoped it bled-… wait, yeah, there's some red coming from the obvious stump of the stick in its body…

Right. Now I just have to hope it– _not the time to be hoping!_

Barely dancing back out of the way of the things bone white claws, I stumbled just a bit to keep myself on my feet. It swiped again, and again, but now that I wasn't focused on anything else it was a _lot_ easier to keep myself out of its range… a quick glance behind me confirmed that I wasn't backing myself into a tree or dead end. Good.

 _Now_ I just needed to hope it'd actually _die_ from blood loss.

Several more swipes later before it lunged again, and this time I was ready, the knife stabbed out in a quick jab, opening a wound on the thing's forearm even as I hopped to the side and out of its charg–

Pain exploded in my right side as it backhanded me, and I rolled up to my feet, vision blurry from tears clouding it even as I staggered backwards again.

The thing growled, and I rolled my eyes.

Oh fuck you too.

My hand tapped my side quickly but didn't come away wet thank god. But fuck it hurt.

Right, patience. Just focus on defense.

Dancing backwards, I kept myself outside of its range, panting as I focused on the thing as it… slowed.

Its swings slowed bit by bit as it hesitated, still trying to attack me and open me up but… hah… heh… stagger like _that_ ya fuck.

I grinned just a bit as it stumbled slightly to the side… it's entire front was glistening with red now. It _snarled_ at me before lunging again, but this time I just got out of the way, having nearly a foot's clearance of the lunge.

Minutes passed, sweat dripping from my skin like rain from the effort of staying out of its reach… but the werewolf hollow collapsed… and kept trying to crawl towards me. Fuck that's creepy. Backing up a few more steps, I let the knife hang from my fingers as my shoulders rose and fell… fuck… that… had been harder than I'd hoped, but… well… I wasn't dead…?

Slowly, more and more pain started to make itself known in my left side where it'd hit me… _really_ hoped it hadn't cracked or broke a rib or something…

The thing's arm reached out towards me weakly, and were it not fore the baeful glare it was still giving me I'd have said _pleadingly…_ but there was nothing kind about that gaze.. it was pure hatred. I… it was hard to describe really, how I knew that, but seriously… it was like you took the concentrated hate towards the Mass Effect 3 Ending and poured it into an eye socket.

… okay, maybe not _that_ bad, but pretty bad.

Still, I waited.

I waited until my breathing had eased up and the thing's eyes slowly closed and dimmed.

Then, only then, did I walk over.

Now, while it was tempting to try and poke it with a stick, I decided to instead go with the tried and true method of _stab it in the throat!_

The blade, braced by both hands and with all of my momentum behind it sunk into the creature's throat, making it twitch-! But it didn't move afterwards.

Relief flooded through me like a flood and I practically collapsed atop the fucking thing.

…

That… had been a bad plan.

My body _ached_ … I was tired… thirsty… even hungrier…

…

"Fuck it… Ima eat yo' ass."

With a half snarl, I pushed myself up onto my feet again, pulling the knife from the creature's neck and stabbing it into it somewhere else before grabbing it by two of the bony protrusions to haul it onto my back. I wasn't _that_ far from the temple and my fire, and sure, it might weigh three… unf… _four_ hundred pounds. But I could drag it! I'd done more than this before when landscaping!

… okay, maybe not really, but close enough that I knew how to drag an enormous weight like this and _damnit_ I was gonna eat this fucking thing for scaring me like that!

-oOo-

Silver eyes opened slowly to the shadows of the cave.

Had… had the guy in the dream not realized the Beowulf had been smoking…? He hadn't seemed to… and he hadn't even recognized the most basic of Grimm… what had been going on…?

Orange light of the fire… it'd been stoked recently… but more shadows…?

It was night outside, she could see it out of the mouth of the cave, and–

She inhaled sharply at the sight before her, white and black and hints of red lines _filled_ half of the not small cave.

There was a slight sound as a mask turned towards her, the figure hunched over the fire focusing on her with… _green_ eyes…?

* * *

MUZACKS

[1] watch?v=LX9VxBwvFFo

[2] watch?v=VnT7pT6zCcA

[3] watch?v=Etkws_5mexg

To reiterate: Fuck Authors Notes.


	2. Grimm Beginnings 2

**A.N.)-** Screw Authors Notes.

* * *

Grimm… Grimm didn't have green eyes…

I stared at the creature.

It was _big_ , bigger than any Beowulf. Even curled up and on all fours as it was, it was probably over fifteen feet high. This was the kind of thing even an experienced Hunter would avoid engaging recklessly. The boney plates covered much of its surprisingly humanoid form like the armor of a knight, the only areas not covered being the small gaps between the interlocking plates at the joints, black, downy feathers covering those small gaps.

It had surprisingly few spikes along its body… likely because it was an airborne creature. What would have been pinkies on a human were swept back and elongated nearly to the point of ridiculousness, mimicking the wings of a bat, its legs were reversed like a beast's, with enormous bone white talons for feet.

The thing had pupils, and they refocused on me rapidly before its head jerked back as if in surprise.

Was… that a good thing or a bad one? Its head seemed more like some terrible cross between a helmet and a skull, with a single 'visor' in the bone from within which two glowing green eyes had focused on me, but with a mouth set beneath it built entirely of interlocking fangs, two large horns sweeping back from its head.

With a distinctly inhuman gait, it crawled towards me but almost… hesitantly…?

I couldn't move, even though I would _really_ have liked to be up and holding my weapon out while this thing approached… I _couldn't._ Gods, I couldn't even lift an arm, I could barely turn to watch what _could_ be my approaching death.

But, as the enormous claw, the palm alone almost half my height, reached out towards me cautiously, I didn't really think that. Though to my chagrin, I shrank away. I mean, I didn't have any aura to speak of and I had no idea where my weapon was, on _top_ of barely being able to move.

The motion made the claw almost jerk away, and the Grimm froze, eyes wide.

Then it held up a finger as if to say, 'Oh! Idea! One second!'

I blinked in confusion as it half turned and an enormous, sinewy tail that was likely as long as the thing was tall lashed out towards the fire to–

… wrap around and pick up some legs of meat that had been cooking over the fire…?

I had to stare as the creature shuffled a bit closer, its tail bringing the two legs of cooked meet over around its body and it transferred them to its large claws before presenting it to me… like… almost like a guy would hold out an engagement ring.

Except for the whole part where this thing's head was as tall as I was.

The thing made a little sound and held its massive claws… hands really… out further towards me.

The smell of cooked meat and… mint…? Mint I think hit my nose and ugh, my mouth watered, my stomach audibly growling at the reminder that I probably hadn't eaten in who knows how long…

Unbidden, a smile appeared on my face and I made an attempt to raise my hand, but the best I could get was a pained little grunt of exertion and a dent in my cloak before I had to collapse back into the bed of furs and give it a sad little shake of my head.

Concern actually crossed its eyes, and I was getting more and more certain this thing _wasn't_ a Grimm, at least not in the ways that mattered. There was no malice in that gaze, none of the hatred Grimm had… though the eyes were still inhuman in shape, they were _not_ so in character.

… great, now I'm getting all metaphysical and crap.

The thing scowled down at the legs of meat, as much as something where only the eyes could move on its face could scowl at least. It actually looked kind of funny…

To my surprise, it wrapped its tail back around the base of the legs of meat and… started to carefully use its claws to tear at the meat, almost snipping bits off to drop them into the other palm.

My brain automatically catalogued weak points, its tail was covered in the same layer of downy Nevermore feathers that the few gaps in its main body were, but there were fewer plates spaced out along the long tail, likely to allow for greater mobility, and it was tipped with a golden stinger reminiscent of a Deathstalkers. The gaps in its armor on its main body were small, and would open and close as it moved, almost like a Deathstalker, but its tail and wings proper were prime targets, as well as those eyes if one could get a good shot at them. But… it was _terrifying_. An airborne Grimm with a vaguely humanoid form, its fingers were nearly the size of my leg and the attached talons the size of my bicep, and even hunched over I was certain it stood nearly fifty feet tall. Not the biggest Grimm I'd ever seen, or killed! Hell, I'd come here expecting to fight a full grown Goliath on my own… but Grimm of this size were not something you wanted to fight alone.

And it was using razor sharp bone-claws almost three feet long… to pick up a hunk of venison and hold it out towards me.

…

Seriously?

Despite being tired, I grinned at the strange thing, _definitely_ not a Grimm, not a normal one at very least.

I hesitated for just a moment, the claws tapered to surprisingly small points at the ends, upon which was speared a small hunk of cooked meat… but it was still an utterly huge bone claw that was _waaayyyy_ too close to my face. I'd trained for years to _not_ have a claw like that this close to my face.

But no time like the present!

With a small smile, I opened my mouth, "Ah."

Surprisingly delicately, the creature brought its dangerous implement closer and held the meat just inside my mouth before I closed my teeth around it and the creature pulled back.

… and I am so glad that none of my team had heard those thoughts because I'd have _never_ lived it down.

… also, the meat was surprisingly good. Could definitely use some salt, but it had more flavor than it really should have… did this thing actually _season_ it? Holy crap.

Swallowing was actually difficult, but ugh, just doing that made me feel _so_ much better.

With the piece of venison down, I opened my mouth again and the creature…? Thing? Person…? I really need to come up with a name for it and not just think of it as the Not!Grimm in my head… but it speared another small hunk of venison before feeding it to me like a child.

Bit by bit, the huge creature fed me an entire leg of a good sized deer before my stomach started to protest and I had to shake my head with my mouth closed like my little Ruby would when we tried to feed her vegetables. The thought made me smile, and thankfully the Grimm simply nodded, pulling back before turning around and heading towards the fire.

Heh… my cloak wasn't the warmest thing, but between it and the furs I was pretty comfortable, if utterly exhausted and a bit achey…

I hadn't even realized my eyes had started to drift closed until a deep rumble startled me and made them snap back open. I stared up at the thing, which had come back over me with a… was that a hubcap…?

… that was the hubcap of some vehicle, which had water in it, that was being offered to me.

My eyes met the thing's own green ones in slight surprise before I nodded, and again, with startling care for a creature of its size, the knight-like Grimm pressed the well cleaned hubcap to my lips and slowly tilted it, letting me drink the thankfully clean if lukewarm water.

It was only then that knight-Grimm pulled away, hesitating before it turned.

"Thank you."

My voice was raspy, sounding more like Yang had thrown a bucket of gravel into the washer… _again,_ and it hurt to even try… but I couldn't just let this go unthanked.

The creature's eyes softened, a soft lavender glow about them as it reached out and delicately rested its claws across my legs for just a moment before turning and heading back towards the fire with its strange gait, its long tail moving about behind it languidly.

A smile crossed my face as I let my eyes drift closed once more. At least I didn't have to worry about being attacked with this thing here…

-oOo-

[1] "I'm the boss… I'm the boss… I'm very very sorry for your loss…"

So the thing had tasted like misery and hatred and pain with a hint of gamey meat and salt.

… not even joking. Those were the only words I could use to describe the corpse of the thing that had _fucking dissolved while I was eating it_.

Proooobably shouldn't have. Kept eating it that is. But it filled me up! Like… really well. It was actually somewhat disconcerting how much better I felt after nomming the hell out of that thing. Like, five hour energy hype sort of better.

Still, dissolving meat creature of black and white and hatred was _probably_ not something you should eat. And I had this niggling feeling of familiarity about it honestly, beyond the obvious hollow reference. But I couldn't place it.

"I'm the _boss–!_ HNG!" the spear _flew_ through the air, nearly running the buck through, "And just in case I didn't get my point across…"

There's also the little bit where I was _definitely_ stronger.

Not insanely so, but it was an unmistakable difference in the positive direction. I needed to find somewhere or some way to get vegetables I felt safe in eating… I was getting better at this whole 'hunting' thing and my directional sense in these woods was improving. But this wasn't currently sustainable.

The deer staggered away several steps before collapsing as I slowly walked towards it. I wasn't going to approach until it was definitely dead though. Didn't want to get kicked… _again_. That shit hurt.

-o-

 _Another_ of those damn black things…

I scowled at it from the other side of a tree. Felt like Elmer Fudd honestly, watching this thing.

Okay, so what did I have on me? And what did I want to do here?

Lead it around? Fight it here?

… fight it somewhere favorable to me. Atop the steps of the temple. Definitely. No more of this leaping on top of it shit.

Yeah, that was a plan. Could I outrun it? Or should… hrm… how to lead it. Running was bad… but it'd probably sniff me out…

… rock?

Rock.

Turning, I crept away from it as quickly as I dared, heading back towards the temple.

I'd lead it with noises, keeping a walking pace as long as I could before it spotted me, throw a spear, haul ass to the temple, pull one of the _other_ spears I'd strapped to my back and then use that to fight the thing until it bled out.

… and then probably eat that one too, because honestly the greater strength was an enormous boon.

Slipping behind another tree and picking up a stick to go with the rock, I glanced back just to be sure the werewolf hollow was where I remembered, then, with a nod, _threw_ the rock as hard as I could into a nearby tree with a resounding _thunk_. Pulling my knife out, I held it close to the edge of the trunk and used it as a mirror to look around it without exposing myself, y'know, just in case.

And there he/she/it goes! Slowly, but still.

Right, let's keep moving.

-o-

So… that had gone well.

"Be ready for the om nom nom you piece of shit..." [2] I groaned out, trying to roll up onto my hands and knees.

Not how I'd _hoped_ , but well.

Grunting, I rolled onto my side, I clutched my stomach.

Ow.

Ugh, gotta push myself up and get that thing dragged up the steps before it dissolves…

It'd only come so close to the temple, it wouldn't approach any closer by being led unless it was outright chasing me, and even then it'd stopped before coming into the small area around the steps. If I'd had a ranged weapon I would have abused the ever loving fuck out of that like any Dark Souls player… but I didn't. I only had so many spears, and my first one had missed horribly.

So I'd thrown another! From the steps this time. It'd dodged that one.

So then I went down to stab it straight on, and found to my unpleasant surprise it was tougher than I'd thought. Also? Boxing style fighting works like ass when you're using a spear. Got clipped by its arm in a dodge as I tried to put a few more holes into the thing, I was lucky I'd been able to scramble back up onto the steps… and then a bit further before collapsing because holy fuck had it pursued me.

With a grunt, I pushed myself to my feet and did my best not to just fall down the steps as I half crawled down them, breathing _hurt_ right now. That was _not_ a pleasant experience.

I'd heaved my last spear at the creature, which had been slowing due to the numerous wounds in it… but I _think_ I'd pulled something in my haste to heave the weapon. Because holy fuck my sides.

Since that one had hit, I'd decided fuck it, and curled up on the steps because ooooowwwwwwwwww.

The thing had finally started to smoke, so it was definitely dead. Which meant now I had to get to work on it.

"C'mere motherfucker. Ima eat yo ass."

-o-

Okay, so... so long as eating this thing's face didn't actually distort my emotional state in some fashion or otherwise make me less, y'know, me? It was awesome. I felt reinvigorated after eating it, not necessarily _healed_ , but definitely better.

I lay on the back seat of my car, trying to get some sleep.

I'd need to keep an eye on myself to ensure it wasn't, because something that you had to term as tasting like 'hatred' probably wasn't good for your emotional stability, but if it increased my strength even more it'd make surviving even easier, as well as taking down the next one. Because uuugggghhhh... my everything.

... okay, not my everything, just my torso, but still. Ugh.

My eyes closed as I stared at the back of the front seats... still needed to find some... some veggies...

-oOo-

My eyes slowly opened to dawn, light was peeking through the entrance to the cavern…

The light hurt my eyes just a little bit and I cringed, letting out an unhappy little grunt before yawning so hard my jaw popped.

"Oh… ow…" There was a soft noise from in front of me, and my eyes snapped back open, instincts screaming that there was something dangerous–!

… something 'dangerous' being that enormous knight-like Grimm, curled up on the bed of branches and furs like an enormous kitten, tail wrapped around it as it lay in a tight little ball… with its tail in its mouth. I had to snicker at the sight, somehow it managed to seem less a menacing monstrosity and far more like an oversized puppy drooling around its tail in its mouth.

The sound though caused glowing green eyes to snap open, blinking a few times as the slitted pupils in them focused on me. It seemed to take a moment before recognition appeared in those eyes before it let the tail out of its mouth and started to unfurl from its place atop the furs beside the fire.

"Hey." I greeted the thing, more for the sake of speaking than anything else, and it rumbled a response.

I watched as the knight broke off some of the branches from its bed and added them carefully to the fire and stoked it before it pulled out a… waterskin? Yes, definitely an oversized waterskin from somewhere behind its bed and poured out some water into the hubcap before approaching me.

Once more it helped me drink before warming up some hunks of meat leftover from last night that had been hidden between two other hubcaps and helping me eat those. My little grumble of, "Great… leftovers." Actually seemed to amuse the giant, if that deep sound of an avalanche was supposed to be a chuckle.

Thankfully for the knight, I wasn't as bad as Ruby could be about eating, the thought bringing a small smile to my face before my heart ached. I… I didn't know if I'd be able to see my family again… no. No. I had to have hope. This thing was taking care of me, nursing me back to health, even if it didn't take me back to civilization I was a fully trained Hunter, I could get there on my own.

I was getting better, my arms were actually moving now! But… it was _exhausting_. My Aura… it was barely recovering at all. But it was! It might take a while, but I would be able to get home even if it meant crawling back!

The giant returned after setting the hubcaps back down beside the fire, and I looked up at it with a small if confused smile, "So… now what…?"

It hummed almost thoughtfully before its mouth opened and it… kinda gave me a scare, **"Sorry…"**

I blinked stupidly at it, Grimm… didn't talk. But… my face turned into a more puzzled expression, I'd already determined that this was not a normal Grimm… and why was it picking me up?

With extreme care, the enormous hands lifted me off of the furs, cradling my head like a childs before it shifted me about. My cloak was still draped over me as the knight opened up its wing, the stretch of black down acting almost like a pouch as I was settled atop it… and I had to admit it was a sight more comfortable than getting set onto the armored plate that was its forearm. But it carried me like I'd carried Ruby not so long ago, in the crook of its arm as it cradled me to its armored chest, crawling out of the cavern.

The light was brilliantly bright in the early dawn, and I had to cringe slightly at the sudden exposure to it even as the creature deliberately walked on its three limbs through the sizeable forest around us in this mountainous region.

"So… you can talk…?"

Rumbling slightly, green eyes glanced down at her before back to its surroundings, **"A little… not 'ery good… no lits."**

I blinked, looking up the bone white expanse of its chest armor at its face… which… yeah, had no lips. Huh, that _would_ make talking difficult. Its voice was a loud rumble, even though it was obviously a whisper for something of its size, it sounded like the deepest baritone I'd ever heard mixed with smoking several packs a day. And it seemed almost… bashful? After a moment of contemplation, I rasped out, "My name's Summer Rose."

 **"Andoriol…"**

"Nice to meet you Andoriol," I said with a smile up at it, "Where are we going by the way?"

 **"'Ahsh… ath…"** I stared up at it in confusion, not understanding. Its eyes obviously scrunched up in frustration as it paused before trying again, **"Cleaning."**

I blinked as it finally clicked, and in spite of myself I turned an even brighter shade of red than my hair, "Um… a bath?"

It nodded, and my face scrunched up in what I knew Taiyang called 'cute', "I don't smell that bad…"

 **"Yes. You do."**

Yeah, I did. Now that my attention had been drawn to it, I couldn't ignore it. I smelled… _bad_. Like dried sweat and musk and a hint of general nastiness. Either thankfully or not, I could see a river approaching, small and babbling, more of a brook really as it wound its way through the forest.

"This is just…" I searched for the words as the knight took a seat beside the river, picking me up out of my otherwise comfortable spot against its wing, "Well… really awkward."

 **"Oond needs care. Could In'ect. Could get disease. So… clean."**

"… wound…?" My voice was a tiny little squeak, and the sound made the not-Grimm pause, green eyes wide as it stared down at me.

Sadness overtook those glowing eyes in that dark 'visor' as it gently pulled away my cloak with one claw, holding me in the other, **"Thought you knew… Legs… couldn't sa'e… did 'hat I could. Sorry…"**

My cloak was gone, and without it there, the fact was undeniable, my breathing starting to come quicker and harsher.

There was nothing below my knees.

* * *

[1] watch?v=H841uTdr5S0

[2] watch?v=SMWi7CLoZ2Q


	3. Grimm Beginnings 3

**A.N.)-** No.

* * *

Desperately, I tried to lift my legs, to wiggle my toes, to make my feet dance-! Anything!

Hanging from the three fingered claw I desperately tried to move my legs, barely able to see the stumps of my knees appearing and disappearing around my black pleated skirt-! No! No no no no no! All the no! This–

White and black filled my vision, the back of the enormous claw gently bumping my chin up, bringing my gaze back to the knight's green eyes, **"Hey… hey… you're okay."**

"I… my legs…" I tried to start, but nothing intelligent came out as I looked up at it, my body trembling with every breath as my mouth worked silently. I was starting to hyperventilate in spite of everything, I– but my legs were gone!

 **"I'll take care o' you…"** The knight said, gently nudging my cheek with the warm bone-armor, **"I'll get you to hone."**

"I…" I almost hiccupped, clinging to the fingers around my waist, "R-Really?"

 **"Yes."** The giant nodded, green eyes glowing even in the morning light as it gently nudged me again with the back of its enormous claws. And I took it for what it was, the attempt of something so much larger than to me to offer comfort. It was a bit disconcerting but I'd take whatever I could.

My gaze dropped back to the stumps of my legs… they'd… they'd been _bandaged_ … messily, but definitely bandaged… I'd been asleep for who knows how long with nearly no aura. This knight was taking care of me, even now it was going to just wash me to make sure I didn't get infected…

Slowly, my breathing came back under my control, and I forced out a little giggle, "You're… thank you… I… I guess I don't have a leg to stand on do I?" I gave the giant a shaky grin, and the chuckle I got from it was actually pleasant.

After a moment, he asked softly for something whose wrist was thicker than my entire body, **"You okay?"**

"No… not really…" I admitted with a rueful smile, "But… we still need to get me cleaned up don't we?"

 **"Yes."**

It was sort of disconcerting that the interlocking bone white fangs that was its mouth only opened slightly when it talked. But…

I swallowed past my concerns, nodding, "Then let's get to it."

The knight lowered me carefully, **"Can you do your raps?"** It gestured at my stumps with the claw not holding me up, giving a little waggle of its claws, **"These aren't good at delicate things."**

I looked down at myself, still… _really_ not liking the lack of feet down there… but… first things first.

I took stock, really took stock of myself. My clothes were the same, sleeveless black blouse, my breastplate was mostly intact, I'd lost my belt somewhere along the way but any trinkets not attached to it were still there... leather bracers were intact, and my chains were still wrapped around them, but Blooming Moon was gone… I still had my black pleated skirt, but my stockings were gone with the… the loss of my lower legs. My Aura was still basically nonexistent at the moment. My fingers worked, my hands worked… but while moving my arms felt like moving them with leaden weights… I could do it.

Swallowing, I nodded, looking up at it with a sort of shaky smile, "Yeah… I think I can."

The knight nodded, very carefully setting me down beside its crossed legs, propping me up against its warm and armored leg. I was grateful, weak as I was.

With some effort, I unwound the bandages around my… my stumps.

Oh wow, this was going to take some getting used to isn't it?

"Guess… guess I can't put my _right foot_ forward anymore, huh?" I asked, grinning a bit; they were tender, even the simple rasping of the bandages against them was like sandpaper.

 **"Or your le't."** The giant noted above me, its tail curling around both of us almost protectively.

I chuckled, smiling a bit sadly. Gotta stay positive. And… oh… oh wow, "… how did I get burned…?" The stumps of my legs looked… well, almost like burnt hamburger. Carefully and almost delicately burnt, but _burnt._ And the only reason I didn't hurl was because I'd seen worse in the course of my life as a Huntress. But nothing I remembered indicated how they'd been _burnt,_ though I could remember how they'd been crushed… Now that I was thinking about it and not blearily fighting off sleep, I could vaguely remember the Goliath collapsing towards me as I'd exhausted the last vestiges of my aura in a final attack while working… with…

I glanced up at the knight above me as it spoke, **"Had to. Cauterized the oound."**

My head jerked back slightly in surprise, "You?" Andoriol nodded sadly. That was… okay, that made me feel a bit weird. I was mad because this guy'd burned me, but the knight had done so deliberately as a medical attempt… which given the lack of supplies made sense. And all considered, the knight had probably been the one to actually remove my legs, being crushed wouldn't have given as… clean… of a cut as the lack of my lower legs indicated…

After a moments thought though, I smiled up at him, "Thanks… with how low my aura is, I probably would have died if you hadn't."

The enormous not-Grimm slumped in what _had_ to be relief, and my smile widened before I returned to pulling the bandages from my legs. With a rumbling voice, the not-Grimm asked, **"What is Aura?"**

I blinked a few times at the surprising question before looking up at the knight above me, "Ah… well, it's the light of your… um… the light of a living thing's soul. Once awakened, it protects and heals the user."

Its enormous head tilted slightly as it blinked down at me, **"It is what allows you to leap as you do and strike so powerfully?"**

"Yes… you catch on quick…"

 **"You use li'…"** Andoriol paused, tilting its head to the side briefly in thought before looking back to me, **"You use your soul to enhance and create and… shield yoursel'…"**

"Yes, we do," I said, putting the bloodied bandages off to the side. Taking a deep, calming breath, I beamed up at him, "Alright! Help me over and I'll get to rinsing."

Nodding, Andoriol carefully wrapped its long tail around my waist, the golden stinger at the end gently pressing against my back for support as I was lifted and brought over the water. "Little lower," it complied and lowered me close enough to the water and tilting me forward enough to reach down and splash water on the stumps–

 _…!_

"… ow…"

 **"You okay…?"**

"That…" I had to pause, grimacing with tears gathering at the corners of my eyes, "Hurt more than I was expecting." That got an unhappy rumble from Andoriol, which made me smile just a bit, "You're a big softy, you know that right?"

 **"Yes."** The giant said with a trace of humor in its deep tone as it leaned forward, a hand dipping into the water in front of me to carefully splash water onto me, though the efforts of the giant still caused most of my… what _remained_ of my legs and skirt to get wet.

The water was still cold, and it wasn't pleasant at first, but I grit my teeth and clung to the tail around my waist with my hands as he cleaned the… the stumps of my legs.

Gods this was going to take some getting used to…

 **"Rose…?"** Andoriol had paused in his efforts, green eyes glowing softly as he looked at me.

"Yeah big guy?" I glanced back at the enormous creature holding me.

 **"Could… you tell… 'ore o' Aura? O' the 'orld?"** Andoriol spoke slowly, haltingly, seemingly searching for words that it could say without lips, **"I can't go… 'ant to kno'…"**

I couldn't help but smile a bit sadly at the large and surprisingly gentle giant, "Sure…" another splash of water on the stumps and an unhappy shiver, "Well… huntsmen are widely regarded as the world's greatest warriors…"

-o-

"Andoriol?"

An inquisitive grunt came from the knight as it continued to wash the bandages carefully with its enormous hands.

… I'm definitely going to start thinking of the knight as a guy.

With a grin spreading across my face from the thought, I leaned back into the tail that was supporting me. I could probably have sat up on my own, but I was _exhausted_ and had appreciated the support. I'd talked, explaining what Aura was as best I could... which had begged another question about Hunters, so I'd done my best to explain my job to him and how we protected the kingdoms of man, and he'd asked about the kingdoms.

Honestly, it reminded me of Yang and Ruby asking these questions about the wider world... a sharp but ignorant child. After some time though, he'd stopped asking questions, at least for now. He'd transitioned to cleaning my bandages and hoped to do my cloak as well... though he lacked bleach to really get them clean and since it was _my_ blood on them and not a Grimm's, it wasn't about to dissipate. Still, it was sweet of him.

But... things were coming back to me now that I was awake for more than a few minutes at a time, able to actually ponder things rather than talking… I remembered the fight now, bits and pieces, likely messed up by a mild concussion even through my Aura…

"Just because I'm done, doesn't mean story-time is over. Your turn." I grinned up at him, trying to lessen the blow of the statement, I didn't _think_ he'd react badly, but you didn't take chances in a situation like this. He'd asked quite a bit of me, but I knew basically nothing about my savior.

Green eyes turned to me in mild surprise before he let out this little chuffing sound, a bit of laughter, **"Yes... I see. Ask then. I shall answer 'at I can."**

A little sigh of relief threatened to get out of me but nope! Let's jump right into this, "Why'd you fight the Goliath?"

He turned to look at me curiously, tilting his head to the side as glowing green eyes blinked. I remembered now, fighting the Goliath. Blooming Moon was admittedly a bad weapon for something that size, but then again, _anything_ human scale was a bad weapon for something that size. But I'd made due. The town had needed me. Between my Semblance and the Dust I had on my person, I'd been wounding the enormous Grimm, but I hadn't been able to really stall it… I'd had to make a choice between holding it in place or doing enough damage to force it to bleed out.

And then another enormous Grimm had arrived to try and pin the Goliath in place. One I now knew without a doubt was Andoriol.

At the time, I hadn't questioned it, I hadn't had the opportunity. I had assistance! Good! I needed it no matter what form it'd taken. And even at over 50 feet tall, my savior was barely half the height of the Goliath I'd been trying to stop and even less of that in mass.

The battle itself was a blur of adrenaline, Aura and Dust, frantic and desperate even with the additional help. The Goliath had been determined not to let me focus on its vulnerable spots, using its trunk and the pressure blasts it could release from it like the blasts of a bomb. I could remember the Grimm that had been helping me getting its mask cracked by a point blank blow from the Goliath's trumpeting… I could remember the bolts of lightning and raging flames… I could remember tapping deep into my Aura and Semblance as Blooming Moon whirled and fired freely into the base of the Goliath's neck… and I could remember watching the Goliath fall towards me and not being able to get out of the way in time.

But that was the question. Even if he wasn't a Grimm in the traditional sense… _why_ had my savior… well… _saved_ me?

He had the gall to shrug, **"I had to. There's no one else who could… I couldn't just stand and let it tran-… take out the town… I _couldn't._ "**

I stared up at him for a long moment, still leaned back against his tail as he pulled the bandages from the river and carefully shook them out, "You've been protecting the town…?" At his nod, the pieces finally started to fall into place, "The giant Grimm the town had been reporting… it was _you_ , not the Goliath."

 **"That is… likely."**

Yes. It made sense. A large Grimm like Andoriol around would make everyone afraid and concerned… and those negative emotions would draw the Grimm in larger and larger amounts. The initial reports from the town about a giant Grimm had gotten a quick investigation from students, which had shown the oncoming Goliath… likely drawn by the same thing the smaller Grimm had… and then I'd been called in.

Hesitantly, I asked, "Why were you close to the town…?"

 **"I 'anted to talk… got… shot 'en close to the town. Tried to show that I 'as not a threat."** A little shrug that still moved his armored shoulders several feet, **"Creatures… so–… lots and lots."**

"They kept coming more and more… so you fought them off," I guessed as he set the damp bandages across his warm tail in the sun to dry and nodded. I chewed my lip briefly in thought, "How long were you here…?"

 **"Se'ral weeks… not a 'onth…"**

After taking a second to parse his lipless accent I nodded slightly in thought. Yes, that fit with the reports and what I knew of how Grimm were drawn… and I mulled it over for several minutes as he began to wash my cloak. But… there was still a pretty glaring question. "Andy–"

I had to cut myself off at the chuffing laughter that earned, looking at him curiously, **"Sorry… sorry… just… entertaining nickname."**

A small smile made itself known on my face, "Well then Andy, what are you?"

White-plated shoulders shrugged as he turned my cloak over a few times, **"Don't know. Not nao."**

My face scrunched up a bit at that in confusion, "Now?"

 **"Used to know."** He said before turning to look at me, his tail moving slightly to present the dried bandages to me, **"Should start to rewrap… not healed yet."**

Taking the surprisingly warm and dry bandages, I began to put those old classes from Beacon to work and rewrapping the… stumps of my legs. Seriously, still not used to thinking like that. As I did though, something kept niggling my curiosity, "What _were_ you?"

There was a pause, his glowing eyes narrowing as he remained focused on the white and red cloak in his claws. After a moment, he nodded, looking back to me, **"Like you."**

It took me a moment to puzzle through that, and my hands froze when I did, my eyes widening and my chest suddenly very, very cold, " _Human_...?"

Another nod, **"Yes. Once."**

That... was unsettling. A weak chuckle escaped me even as I paled at the thought, "Oh... wow... okay... that's... that's actually kind of scary…" People turning to Grimm, great, _wonderful_ , fuck, was it possession Grimm gone wrong? … or, y'know, I could just ask him. "… do you know how it happened?"

 **"Yes."**

When he didn't elaborate, I prompted, "How?"

To my surprise, the titanic knight _hesitated_ , **"Don't 'ant to say."**

My brow furrowed, and I cautiously asked, "… why?"

 **"Dangerous."**

I thought about that for a minute as I continued to wrap my legs, whether I was willing to accept that as a response. I didn't know much about my savior, and that was unsettling, especially after he'd asked those questions. If he was a Grimm... but I'd basically already decided that he wasn't, there was too much gentleness, too much tenderness to everything he did with me to think he was a real creature of Grimm. He felt it was dangerous to say...

"Okay…" I raised a finger to wag it at him, "But I expect you to tell me some time later!"

Andoriol made that little rumbling chuffing noise of a chuckle, before giving me a little relieved nod and pulling the cloak out of the water, looking it over, there was still a big brownish red splotch along the entire bottom of it… but also an even darker speckling higher than that… stains? Didn't know, but I considered the cloak a wash anyways. I'd reweave something with Dust in it if… **when** I got home.

Still. I had to ask, if he was once a human… "Where did you come from?"

The knight paused, a pause that was becoming increasingly familiar as we talked, the 'how the hell do I say this without lips' pause. **"Not here. _Really_ not here."**

"Not from Vale?"

 **"Not here. At all."**

"… Mystral?"

He let out that chuffing, rumbling laugh again, gesturing out at everything around us with one of his arms, **"Not here."**

I seriously had to pause and try and puzzle that out. What 'here' was he talking about? Not this city, not this forest... "Not this continent?" But he made a 'keep going' gesture. But how _could_ you go further? "… not from Remnant...?"

 **"Ren'nant is this... all this?"**

Swallowing past the sudden lump in my throat I said, "Remnant is the name of our world…"

So, of course, he nodded, **"Then no, not Ren'nant. Not _here_."**

"Of course… you're not from this world. _Obviously_ …" I covered my face with my hands groaning, "I'm talking to an alien like out of one of Taiyang's old comic books… obviously…" Another chuffing laugh from him and I said through my hands, "This is crazy. _You're_ crazy, you know that right?"

 **"Hote I an…"** I peeked through my fingers at him, finding him to have stopped in his washing for the moment, very still, **"Crazy. Thinking crazy is easier than 'eing right…"**

"… you… hope you're crazy?" I asked, trying to parse what he was saying and getting a nod in return, I ventured again, "That you're wrong?"

 **"Yes. 'Cause crazy is easier… closer to… all the things."**

"… because if you're crazy, then you're not who knows how far from home…"

And the softest word I'd heard from the already softspoken giant made my heart ache for him, **"Yeah."**

I knew homesickness… I knew that heartache well… I'd felt it every time I left my little girls… but to know without a doubt you'd never see them again, that you were separated not by continents or oceans but something even greater… I couldn't even imagine… "… I'm sorry." If for nothing else, for bringing it up.

 **"Not your hault."** He said gently, pausing in his laundry to reach back with one of his enormous claws and gently brush the back of it against my cheek, **"Thank you though."**

My best tired smile didn't feel like enough, but he'd eased some of my discomfort at having brought that up.

"Hey… big guy… don't bother too much with the cloak… so long as it keeps acting like a blanket… I can live…" I yawned hard enough to make my jaw pop, wincing slightly, "I can live with it not being pretty for now…"

 **"Tired?"** I had to give him a shy little nod, feeling like a child not wanting to go to bed. The giant seemed to pick up on it though, because his rumbling tone was bemused, **"Rest… I'll take you 'ack."**

"Thanks Andy."

Sleep didn't overtake me immediately as I lay back against his tail… but aside from the brief start I had when he shifted me back into the crook of his wing, little kept me from dreamland. When you're a Hunter, you tend to pick up the ability to either go for a long time without sleep… or to fall asleep quickly.

And so the dreams came again.

-oOo-

[1] "That's not a sword that's your dick in disguise…" I muttered tunelessly as I leapt up, catching a low branch in my hand and swinging myself up onto it.

"RRRRAAAAAWWWR!"

"It's dangerous to go alone _take this~_ " with a grunt, I sent the spear in my hand _hurtling_ through the air, adding another one to the growing number embedded in the back of the bear-hollow.

"Oh my _god_ … I gotta warp outa here, Princess Zelda awaits…" Seriously though, what does it take to bring this one down? The werewolf hollows were a lot easier to handle now, I could nearly put a spear all the way through them. And one or two of those followed up by getting up a tree to let it bleed out was extremely effective at killing them.

With a sigh, I dropped down to sit on the branch, glaring down at the bear-like hollow-esque thing below me as I crossed my arms over my chest.

This was getting ridiculous. It already had four of the five spears I kept on me embedded in its back… and we'd been running around for… hell, how long now? Thirty minutes? Bleed out already!

These things were closing in on me. More and more of them had been in my little section of the forest over the past two months. It'd started off as maybe one of them per week, but it'd become one of the werewolves every few days… and then one every day… and now this thing.

Fuck, were we just outright escalating like boss fights? Because if we are, I could very easily be in trouble.

Dropping down there to fight it was a bad decision. I could handle the werewolf hollows with surprise or height, they couldn't climb as well as I could even _before_ my strength had started increasing, but this thing? Not something I wanted to risk.

Drumming my fingers on my knee, I basically decided to just sit and wait, hoping it'd bleed out… I'd give it, mm… an hour? After that point I'd make a mad dash back towards the temple.

And so, I settled in to wait.

-o-

… right, this plan was bad. This was a bad plan. Very bad plan.

"RRRAWR!" the bear-like hollow in front of me roared and I raised my spear threateningly.

So… why was I doing it again…?

The werewolf-hollow behind me growled.

Ohhhhhh… yeah, right, _forgot_. No other options. [2] Right, let's make this happen.

Sure, let's just run whole hog away from the giant bear, great plan. No way that can go wrong. I mean, it's not like I'll run into another of the other kind of hollow thing out there or anything.

… fuck.

Onward into the great beyond then–!

I lunged forward-!

The bear started to roar even as the werewolf started to lunge-!

And I spun on my heel, gripping my spear with both hands like a baseball bat as the feint did as I hoped, and I hit the werewolf out of the park-!

… well, I _would_ have if the spear hadn't basically disintegrated. Though it _did_ send the werewolf hurtling off course.

Spear destroyed, the original plan was out-! Fucking fucker fuck! I continued my spin and waved the stump of my spear about quickly to ward it off. But still it advanced because fuck me amirite?

Knife-! Knife knife knife knife–!

The blade was out of the loop of my pants and, despite a little fumble, I had it in my hand. I backed up quickly as the thing-… stood on its hind legs because fuck it wasn't big enough already… you're… actually small for a bear, just like ten foot tall now… still bad though.

It swiped its paws and I danced back. "Hahaha… no. No no no. Fuck you. No."

It wobbled back upright and _roared_.

So I drop-kicked it in the nads.

Based upon the high frequency vocalization the ursa-based creature released, I was able to deduce that in sptie of its unusual morphology and coloration, _it still had balls to kick_. _Hah!_

I hesitated for just a second before I ran forward and stabbed it in the throat, a spray of blood shooting out to coat me but the thing definitely wasn't dead just yet, so I launched myself backwards, but the knife was tugged out of my hands in the process.

Didn't have time to care though as the hollow-bear let out a gurgling roar and kept swiping at me, almost stumbling forward, blood gushing from the wound in its neck but it gave no concern towards it.

Solidly strong legs further enhanced by eating these creatures launched me back and I rolled up onto my feet, well out of the things range… and then began to lead it around the tree. Because fuck these things were stupid. My heart rate actually started to _normalize_ after the fourth lap around the tree because while this thing had some great speed in the straightaways, his cornering was terrible, didn't even try to turn around and meet me going the other way.

… if these things were video game monsters I'd really criticize their pathfinding. As it was, I was just grateful.

After lap seven though, the bear-like creature finally stumbled… and fell. Because a gaping throat wound tends to make things difficult. Y'know, things like… _living_.

"Hah!" I threw up my arms as the bear-hollow panted, trying to get back up to its feet, "Fought a bear! _Awesome_."

"Grrrrrrrrrr…"

I blinked a few times before sighing, my arms still up, "Fuck. Other one's not dead."

It roared at me and I lunged forward0

Ffffuck! Pain! Lots of pain in my back! Fuck! No time–!

Rolling up to my feet quickly, I grabbed some dirt and grass off of the ground and throwing it up into the thing's face, bringing its half-started charge to a stop as I fought literally dirty. It recoiled briefly and I repeated my earlier experiment.

I kicked it in the nads.

Another of those little whimpers, and I didn't have my knife or the time to find it so what? _So what?!_

With a wordless scream I lunged forward, half jumping to grab it by the muzzle, clamping it closed as I did my level best to turn its fucking adam's apple into _applesauce_. My entire body twisted with every blow as I slammed my fist up into its throat again and again, digging my knuckles as deeply into the thing's flesh as I could manage with every blow. Once, twice, three times I tried to break it, and it _gurgled,_ staggering but _definitely_ not dead. So I reared my arm back, pointing two fingers and stabbed it in the fucking eye!

This time it roared in pain, its mouth snapping open and making me lose my grip, starting to fall once more. It was purely through luck that I only felt its teeth snap at the air in front of me rather than taking my face clean off and– _fuck_ my back was not in good shape! Hitting the ground on it made me flinch even as I struggled to roll away–

Another flare of pain as the world tumbled away–!

I rolled to a stop, coughing and gasping for breath as I struggled back to my feet. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. What had-? I half staggered, half stumbled to my feet, eyes frantically searching–

Shit! Incoming!

I launched myself off to the side, avoiding another lunge about as gracefully as a toddler but fuck you it worked.

Scrambling on my hands and knees, I rushed up to the tree and _up the tree please and thank you!_

Did I look like a retarded monkey or squirrel? Probably. Did I give any sorts of fucks? Nnnnnope.

Grabbing the first branch I ran into, I hauled myself up onto it, my lungs burning from my inability to breathe properly even as the tree shook.

Gasping, I looked down to find the werewolf hollow trying to climb the tree… unsuccessfully, but still.

I took a few moments to resettle my breathing and _oh god it hurt_. Like, it hurt a lot. My whole chest… and my back… and my, y'know… _everything_. But… I could breathe… and hah fucking hah… the werewolf _couldn't_.

It was letting out these little gurgling sounds aaaaand there we go. It'd dropped to the dirt, staggering away before collapsing.

A sigh escaped me as I slumped into the branch.

Several long moments passed in silence as I lay there before I forced myself to move.

With a small groan I touched my back and yyyyep. Bleeding. Fuck.

Right… _definitely_ gotta eat these things now. Might be the only way I could survive these wounds…

Gritting my teeth against the _fire_ in my back, I rolled off of the branch and carefully worked my way back down the tree, "Suck ten thousand cocks with the fury of a thousand vacuum cleaners... not gonna die to monsters today..."

-o-

Shirt was ruined… damn. That could've been really useful in the long run if it got frigid here, which given the trees outside was likely. Fuck.

I was healing quicker than I should have, definitely. I… holy fuck I'd been able to haul the bear hollow back to the temple. It'd struggled but a few good kicks had stopped that mess.

But I'd eaten it! And it'd had a more… _intense_ flavor.

So… yay?

Tossing the shirt aside, I took my cup and headed towards the water pool, I'd get some water from it and use it from the cup to try and wash myself down, it was better than potentially contaminating the only serious water source I'd found. That sounded like a bad plan.

Still, if it weren't for the fact that I'd be filled up for a while, I'd consider that a bad deal.

Scooping the water up I–…

… well fuck, going gray already?

Instead of stooping by the circular pool, I actually knelt down to get a better look at myself. I'd been here for a while now, two months or so… and I knew I was going to go gray early, all of my grandparents had and my mom had as well, not to mention I'd seen a few streaks of brilliant white hair at my temples occasionally even before coming here.

But past the green, deep set eyes, past the brown hair and simple face and the brown beard I'd grown by day four… hell, it looked like _everything_ was growing in white. There was a layer of white hair at my scalp. Weird. It was like… like all my hair growing in was stark white, even while the stuff that I'd already had was still brown…

 _Definitely_ weird…

I brushed off the unsettling fact with a small shake of my head, finishing gathering the water. I still needed to get clean.

-oOo-

I awoke with a gasp, eyes quickly adjusting to the dim light of the cave.

He'd-… _Dust_.

Just… _Dust_.

Was… was I seeing his memories? His past? Was it even him? I didn't even know… but… I could ask…?

Glancing around the cavern, I could see that it was daylight outside still, and that Andoriol wasn't here. He'd laid me back out on the furs with my cloak draped across me and was likely out finding food… or more Grimm for _himself_ to eat…

… I had to ask. I had to know. If… if that's what it took to become something like him… Ozpin at very least needed to know, maybe the Council, if just to keep people from doing it. It wasn't a great plan, asking the giant about stuff like that when he didn't want it revealed, but it was better than anything else I had… and…

"Grrrrrr…"

"Oh _Dust_ … not _now_ …"

* * *

[1] watch?v=0m9QUoW5KnY

[2] watch?v=t2JsM3Or_eA


	4. Grimm Beginnings 4

**A.N.)-** Screwing Authors Notes commencing.

* * *

I scowled at the… ursa? Yep that's an ursa. Fuck.

Slowly sniffing, the mass of black fur and white bone armor slowly stalked up the rise that led to large entrance to the cavern. The entrance was just a bit bigger than Andoriol's crouched form, so… maybe fifteen feet by twenty. It was in the side of a small cliff face on the way up the mountain, and I could see the body of the Ursa start to crest the rise.

Okay, so… what do I have?

No Blooming Moon, no legs… aura…? Nnnnot really.

And no Andy. Crap.

Lots of crap.

So… could I just hope it doesn't see me?

Of _course_ it growled at me. How un _bear_ able.

Alright, options?

Fight? Not feasible, but fallback option. Call for help?

… can't really make things any worse, I'm dead regardless if it doesn't work.

"ANDY–!" I was cut off with a wheeze and a small hack, but I took a deep breath even as the yell made the Ursa pause, "ANDORIOL! MIGHT NEED SOME HELP!"

The Ursa's growl intensified, and I hesitated. Not because I was particularly scared by the Ursa, but because shouting for help might make it come at me quicker… still… "Aaaaanddyyyyyy!"

It seemed the Grimm didn't care for my shouting, or saw it as a challenge. It breathed in deep before roaring. [1]

"Oh screw you," I grumbled beneath my breath, before breathing in deep, my heart starting to thud in my chest uncomfortably. I pushed my cloak aside, gripping my chains still around my bracers and trying to push myself into a proper sitting position, "ANDY!"

Taking two more steps forward, the Ursa roared again. I was trembling now though, was this… was I going to die now, after all of that? I'm so sorry Taiyang… Ruby… Yang… sweethearts… mommy might not be coming home… I breathed in deeply before shouting again, my voice cracking, "ANDY!"

The Ursa roared, the deep sound reverberating in my chest as it stalked closer. Damnit. Damnit damnit _damnit!_ I survived fighting a full grown Goliath! I had to survive-! I _had_ to-! "ANDY! Damnit Andoriol-! I've got a Grimm here! I need you here now-! … _please_ …"

Inhaling deeply, the Ursa's chest expanded as it prepared to roar once more–

And the world shook. [2]

I felt the sound wash over me _physically_ , the tongues of the fire actually leaning away from the entrance as some pebbles on the floor rattled in place, the sound accompanied by a ferocious if brief wind.

… oh… oh _fuck_.

Given how the Ursa's eyes widened, it probably agreed with me on that one. The Ursa began to _scramble_ in my direction but–

 ** _*BOOM!*_**

Okay–! Wait, what-?! I missed that-!

Reflexively, I'd jerked back and the sudden blur of motion that I'd barely been able to interpret, a blur of white with streaks of red and black had just _surged_ into the cavern and the floor had _trembled!_ My brain had barely caught up to the fact that now the Ursa was more than half crushed into a small crater in the rock by Andoriol's large hand which was just large enough to _wrap entirely around the Grimm Bear_ before both it and the arm blurred once more and my cloak actually rippled from the rush of wind from the displaced air. Out of the cavern entrance I saw the mass of the Ursa crash into and nearly _through_ one of the large trees outside, practically splattering like a bug on a windshield as it did, making the tree buckle.

My jaw hung open for a few moments as I processed that.

Andoriol was half crouched outside of the cavern entrance, turned away from me with his right arm still extended from having _flung_ the Ursa away, his large wings still in the process of re-folding into place even now.

Holy _crap_ did that drive home how big he really was. His hand could fit entirely around an Ursa! Not an Alpha, sure, but definitely full grown! And by Dust was he fast! Something that big should _not_ be that fast! Even without Aura enhancing my vision, I had good enough eyes that I should've been able to see _something!_

The giant turned back towards me, and in the shadows of his visor I saw glowing crimson for just the briefest of instants before glowing green was focused on me once more, tinges of purple at the edges as he quickly crawled into the cavern with that almost unnatural gait, **"Rose-! You okay?"**

I gaped at the giant knight, stunned for just a moment before a weak little chuckle escaped me, the tension melting out of my body as I slumped back onto the furs and I gave him a weak little smile, "Yeah… I am now big guy…"

Tenderly, his enormous knuckle brushed against my cheek as he tried to reassure himself that I was being honest. And while some part of me was still really, _really_ unsettled by that, the big softie had freaking washed my legs and fed me, I could make do… though that fear had another component now because _seriously,_ something that big should _not_ be that fast. **"So sorry… needed to get things to eat… didn't think the creatures could get here so soon."**

"No, it's okay, I'm alright…" I said, my smile growing stronger as my heart rate finally started to get into the realm of normal again, "Just had a bit of a scare is all."

He sighed, pulling back, **"Still… sorry."**

With a bit of effort, I lifted a hand to waggle a finger at him, grinning, "Just don't let it happen again mister! I couldn't _bear_ to be alone with someone as ungentlemanly as an Ursa!"

For a moment, I thought the joke would go totally over his head with how he blinked at me in confusion, glowing green eyes flickering a few times in that visor before he snorted, a chuffing laughter escaping him, **"I'll do 'at I can."**

I smiled a bit more genuinely at him this time if for just a moment before it faded, my dream coming back to me… though… that wasn't right, was it…?

 **"… Rose…?"**

"… Andy… you…" I hesitated, _especially_ after seeing that display of power. I… hell, if I was at full strength I wasn't sure I could beat him if he could keep up that sort of speed. But… I needed to know. Was it connected? Or was I just going crazy? "You ate Grimm while you were human… didn't you? That's what turned you into this…"

The enormous knight stiffened, eyes going wide. He was almost unnaturally still, like a statue rather than anything living for several long moments, his eyes focused on me… warily…? In anger…? It was hard to read someone's expression just from their eyes. Then he slumped, eyes falling to the rocky floor as he rumbled out, **"How… how did you know?"**

"I… I think I'm seeing your memories…" I admitted, unable to look at my savior's face… but he deserved to know, and I _needed_ to know, "In my dreams… you… you had brown hair didn't you…?"

The silence stretched on for a long moment before he spoke, **"Yes."**

That confirmation was the straw that really broke the camels back, and it really just sort of… hit me how absurd all of this was, even for a Hunter… this was insane. All of it. I wrapped my arms around myself, silver eyes focusing on the far wall before the knight took a knee before me, one hand on the cavern floor for balance, **"Rose… I… I don't understand. Anything. Any o' this… it's all new… I don't know how any o' it… acts. 'Ow could any o' this 'ork…? I need to kno' the things you do…"**

"… know what…?" I almost hesitantly asked.

 **"Anything! I don't kno' _anything!_ "** For the briefest of moments, his voice rose and it just _filled_ the cavern, making my ribs _shake_ and a part of me wanted to shrink away, but he stiffened even as I watched, looking away and letting out a little sigh before speaking at a more normal volume, **"I… this is all strange… don't ejen kno' 'at parts are strange and 'at aren't…"**

As he trailed off, gesticulating with the hand not propping himself up, I softly and unhappily admitted, " _Nothing_ about this isn't strange…"

 **" _How_ though?"** He asked with a near growl, **"You… you kno' 'at is right here and 'at _isn't_ and I don't ejen… that! None of it…"**

"My aura isn't returning…" I started off slowly, but as I spoke, the words came faster, like cracks in a dam as it broke and the words practically tumbled out of my mouth, "It should've been back at least partially by now. It's there, but… it's _not_ … and you're some sort of human Grimm thing which shouldn't even be possible… and somehow I'm seeing your memories when I sleep… and my legs are just _gone_ now and I don't… none of this… makes _any_ sort of sense…"

I hugged myself tightly, chest heaving as I tried to get my breathing back under control… and warm, oversized hands gently closed around me, making my head jerk up even as I was lifted and brought me to his armored chest. I stared up at him briefly as the giant murmured, **"Sorry… so sorry… didn't 'ant that to… I didn't think that… I just needed to kno'… I shouldn'ta said… so sorry…"** I pressed my face against the hard plating of his chest, hiding the hot tears flowing down my cheeks. I was a full grown Huntress damnit! I should be better than this! But the giant wasn't done, **"Rose… I'll do anything you need… assist you in anything you desire… little or grand… ask… and I'll do all that I can…"**

A little sob escaped me in spite of myself… I wanted to believe him… _had_ to believe him… I had no other options… he was my only hope now… and while I didn't know for sure, I was willing to give him a chance. Tears slowly flowed out of my eyes and I let them as I leaned into the armor of his torso, finding myself gently enshrouded in black feathers as he wrapped his arms around me. Sniffling, I did my best to smile up at him, the attempt shaky and weak, "Despite all that armor, you really are a softie aren't you…?"

 **"Quite,"** he rumbled, and despite not being able to see his eyes, I could hear the small smile in his tone as he simply held me close and… it was nice. Despite being disconcerting on a certain level, there was a certain measure of comfort in being hugged by someone so big… and yeah… some _one_ … not some _thing_. Had to do him at least that much justice.

Smiling and sniffling again, I pressed my forehead against the warm armor of his chest, my smile quivering as I struggled to maintain it, "Really… thanks big guy…"

The blunt back of one of his claws brushed gently against my shoulders as he rumbled, **"It's okay. I do 'at I can."**

A weak little laugh escaped me and I clung to the plating of his torso… and I let the tears flow freely, but quietly. We stayed like that for a while, he didn't patronize me by rocking me or anything, and instead just held me close to his armored chest and enveloped in the warm and soft down of the feathers on his wings. The ache in my chest… the fear and horror… those hadn't gone away, but at the very least I felt safe here… and the simple attempt to comfort me meant a lot to me.

Digging my palm into my eyes, I tried to dry them the red and puffy mess off. But eventually, I forced myself to take a shuddering breath to calm myself, and the mere touch of my hand on the giant's arm had him easing me away from his chest to look at me. I smiled weakly up at him, "Thanks big guy."

Those emerald eyes glowed a soft lavender briefly, **"Least I could do, doing that to you."**

While a part of me definitely wanted to give him some crap for that, I also knew that it wasn't really his fault. I was holding myself together because I _had_ to, I was still on edge really… "It's not your fault… I was going to do that at some point or another. Really, I'm glad to have gotten it out of the way!" I beamed up at him, and even if it was a little fake, the look in his eyes softened.

Carefully, he set me back down on the furs, propping me up in a sitting position. **"I need to get eats. You need to eat, increase your strength. Heal."**

"Good point… just… ah…" I hesitated, realizing how silly and weak what I'd almost said would make me seem, but he didn't really care about that.

 **"Stay close."** He filled in, reaching out to gently brush the back of his knuckles against the side of my arm, **"I understand. I shall."**

I smiled just a bit at him, grateful for his understanding. But… something was niggling at me, "Andy?" He paused mid turn to look at me, "What…" I hesitated, trying to reorder my thoughts into something resembling sentences, "… what's the plan? The overall one?" A pause before I softly pointed out, "I can't stay here forever, Andy…"

He sighed, nodding in agreement, **"True… thinking that you should heal. Rest. And once strong enou', take you to the… toun."**

"Sounds good…" I smiled just a bit before a knot started to twist itself in my stomach, out of paranoia or reasonable caution, I wondered… why hadn't he taken me there in the first place…? It was a terrifying thought that he'd taken me away on purpose…

White bone armor appeared in my vision, and I raised my gaze to him, realizing it'd fallen to the cavern floor. I found him looking at me in concern beneath that visor, **"You okay…?"**

… oh what the heck. "Andy… why didn't you take me there in the first place…? No offense, but I don't think you're exactly 'Doctor Andoriol'…" It hit me that that might seem ungrateful and I hastened to reassure him, "Though you've done a great job what with the huge hands and all! Just…"

He let out that chuffing sound of a chuckle before nodding, gesturing at the cavern, **"Not a…"** he started before making that 'the hell do I say' look with his eyes and settling on, **"Clinic."**

At my hesitant nod, he sighed and looked up at the rocky ceiling, slumping slightly, **"Couldn't… _tried_ to… couldn't. They shot at us… didn't see or… didn't care that I held you. You… lost legs and unconscious…" **He shook his head slightly, looking down, **"Didn't know hou tough or strong you are… could you take a hit? I couldn't take the risk. A single stray shot coulda done you in…"**

"Yeah… I can see that…" That… made a lot of sense actually. Someone who just saw a huge, scary Grimm like Andy without knowing he was a big softie inside would shoot first and pray, even if they had someone… it made sense that twitchy civilians would shoot first. And since I didn't have my aura then or now… that could easily have saved my life. My own resigned sigh drew his emerald gaze back to mine and I asked, "What about you though…? What are you going to do?"

He _shrugged_. **"Do nice things?"**

…

"… _what?_ "

Andoriol gave a determined nod, **"Do nice things."**

I just sorta gaped at him. "… you're a giant, alien, human-Grimm hybrid _thing_ and your plans for the future are 'do nice things'?"

 **"Sorta. Hard to say really,"** he tapped the tips of his three oversized fingers against the fangs that formed his mouth… completely devoid of lips.

"… oh." I blushed a bit in embarrassment, realizing what he meant. "You have more plans, they're just hard to tell me?"

But at that, he sighed, **"Sorta. Not a lot. No good ideas."**

That didn't sit right with me… if he… no, _when_ he got me back to civilization, I'd owe him my life, hell, I owed him my life already! And… ugh. "Okay, look. I know some people, when I get back, I'm going to make some calls… wish I still had my scroll so I could do it now but that was in my belt so I can't. But when I get back, I'll make some calls, see what I can do about getting you into civilization. About helping you turn back. Whatever we can do. I promise."

The giant stared at me in surprise for a brief moment before his eyes smiled, **"Thank you. I'd… I'd like that."**

"Hey, I'm a fully grown and trained Huntress," I said with a grin and pointing at him, "That means I return the favor when you save me."

A little chuffing laugh escaped the giant before he sighed, with what had to be a smile in his eyes, **"I'll hold you to that… Rose…"**

I smiled at him, a pleasant feeling surging through me, even if it was nothing more than words right now, I knew I fully intended to follow through with it, and the idea of at least doing _something_ for him in return for giving me the opportunity to see my family again was worth so much to me.

The giant half turned, **"I… has an idea to get eats without risking you too greatly… I'll return soon."** Humor danced in the eyes hidden in the visor of his mask, **"Don't go any'ere."**

An amused snort escaped me and I used my arms to shift myself around slightly in order to get into a better position against the fur-covered rock I was propped against, "Well I _guess_ I can stay here."

Laughing quietly, he turned fully, crawling out of the cavern.

"What an ass," I murmured, shaking my head, but smiling after him.

-oOo-

So… I was starting to get the impression that I was rather unwanted.

Eight of those werewolf hollows were gathered around together, milling about and slowly heading in the direction of the temple.

They'd been headed this way for a while now, I'd caught them coming not too long ago… but not too long would be plenty long enough.

Making sure everything was ready, I stood and took a step–

Right off of the branch and falling straight to the ground over a dozen feet below, landing right between two of the werewolf hollows at the back of the pack with a muted thud.

They all stopped, turning to look at me in surprise, so I _grinned_ , "Hi~ I'm a bunny~!" [3]

Apparently they didn't know how to react to a bunny of my size, because they just stared at me for a long moment, probably blinking if those giant red eyes could. They smelled like wet dog and blood and general nastiness, a cloying and horrific scent that just filled the nose. So excuse me if I wasn't nice enough to not take advantage of their hesitation and hunting the wabbit.

With a little hop, I reoriented my left foot, my right raising off of the ground even as both my arms went up, and then my right arm went down and the left went out to counterbalance my leg swinging upwards in a textbook high kick as I _kicked its teeth in_.

Quite literally.

White bone cracked and fangs fractured as I kicked the werewolf hollows teeth right down its throat, the creature still having too much inertia to be sent utterly flying, but its' head snapped back with a resounding _crack_ before I swept my leg back around and buried my heel into the face of the one on my other side in a roundhouse kick. Fuck yeah kickboxing!

Mind you, it did little more than stun that one since it was shit positioning and I wasn't _that_ good, but still! It was awesome! And from the way the one on my left was already starting to sublimate, I knew I'd taken one of them out! Sweet shit.

So without further ado? It was time to haul ass.

"When the night, has come… and the land is dark…" Hopping back a few steps I twisted and rushed off to the tree I'd so recently vacated even as the howls lit up behind me. Ominous and terrifying in their number and menace… except for the part where everything was going according to plan. "And the moon… is the only… light we'll _see!_ "

I ran a few steps right up the trunk of the tree before my momentum ran out and I monkey climbed the rest of the way up, the creatures scrambling after me, only one of them able to climb after me at a time. And while they had claws and thumbs, they were also kinda stupid, and I'd gotten quite good at climbing over the past few months.

"Stand… by me~… oh, stand by me…" Swinging myself up onto a thick, low branch, I grabbed one of the spears from my bundle that I'd left on the branch and turned, "Won't you stand… by _me~_ "

Aaaand stab.

Down goes one.

And another! … sorta surprised you didn't get knocked down by your buddy falling on top of you. But whatever. Stab!

This was almost trivially easy now. Taking care of these things. I wasn't strong or tough enough to risk a straight fight with one, but I wasn't stupid. Surprise. Range. The high ground. Blinding. Ball shots. Straight fights were for losers.

Took out four of them before they got smart, instead circling the base of the tree. Problem with that?

With a resounding thunk, one of the creatures was pinned to the dirt, the sharpened stick having pierced straight through it and embedding in the dirt below. The remaining three stared at the impaled werewolf squirming in pain as it let out little growls and whimpers before slumping. Then they looked back up at me, arm cocked back with another spear.

I had _several_ spears up here in my pack.

Hah!

It wasn't as impressive as a sudden rain of death, but the remaining creatures scrambled to do _something_ , but it didn't work out too well because there wasn't much of anywhere to go. Two more fell to flying spears before the third hid behind a tree, watching me warily from behind it.

Now, as awesome as it'd have been to snipe it when it peeked out, I wasn't anywhere near confident enough in my aim with these things to manage that. If I'd had a proper gun? Oh yeah, I might miss once but I'd get it. But with a spear? Not so much.

So… I'm up here on a branch, still have two more spears, used up four throwing at the idiot creatures below… what were my options? Going down there and going mano-y-mano with the fuckface _was_ an option, just not a great one… buuuuut…

Pulling my final spear out, I stood on the branch. The one in my left hand was my larger, 'melee' spear, just a thicker and longer stick that I'd sharpened, but the smaller, straighter throwing spear was in my right. So with a spear in each hand, I hooked one of them around the trunk of the tree and planted my bare feet against the trunk, sliding down as I presented the other spear.

"Stand by me… ohhh stand… won't you stand, by me?"

Sadly, the monster didn't charge at me like I'd hoped, but as my feet hit the dirt, I had to smile.

My shirt had been a lost cause, the legs of my black dress pants were finally starting to fray in spite of my best efforts, my dress shoes were tough for what they were but they hadn't been built for this sort of mess and I'd had to leave them behind. I looked like a freaking mountain man, my hair having grown like it always did… super fast. It was already pushing midway down my ears after three months, and my beard actually looked pretty good now… though I was distinctly remembered why I didn't grow it out. It was itchy as hell. And it looked like _all_ of my hair was going gray now, there were several inches of my rich dark brown hair at the ends before immediately turning stark white. My skin had been slowly tanning, though not as quickly as I'd expected, I usually tanned nice and quick when I spent a lot of time outside…

Still. Me Tarzan. Me need meat. Me stab stupid creature.

Confidently, I strode forward, spears at the ready as I approached the still 'hidden' werewolf hollow. I didn't expect to take it on like this, that was a stupid plan, but I was really just trying to provoke it into–

 _Charging me like that-!_

I hurled the right spear at it underhand, the wood being deflected by the creature's arm as it surged towards me, but I'd expected that, it'd just been to free my hand to do _this_!

It leapt through the air, attempting to pounce on me, but the joke was on it. With both hands on the spear, I'd planted the butt of the six foot shaft of wood into the dirt and let the creature impale itself with its own momentum, holding the spear in place for just an instant longer before leaping aside because _shit–_ fuck its arms are long! Nearly clipped me there!

The spear bowed and broke beneath the creature's mass and inertia, but not before over a foot of it was embedded into its chest.

Aaaaaand now to wait.

Ha- _hah!_

And now I turned and ran, snatching the discarded spear off the ground before rushing up another tree. If this thing was stupid enough to try and follow me again I'd throw the spear, otherwise, I was just gonna let it bleed out.

Then Ima eat it. Because I'm getting hungry, they're high energy calories, and… well… despite not having found anything remotely resembling vegetables yet, I haven't been showing signs of scurvy or anything else horrific that should come from vitamin deficiencies… I mean, I've made a point to eat things like liver and brains and eyes from the deer and rabbits that I've caught, but still… I'd have expected some measure of horrible nastiness by now… I think these things were, get this, _magical creatures_.

Shit talking aside, my best theory was that I was in some way absorbing a fraction of these thing's strength or something in order to fuel myself… and because of some measure of bullshitium, was keeping me healthy in spite of a comparative vitamin deficiency.

Best theory doesn't make it right, because my limited knowledge of actual time periods and ratios of vitamins and such meant that it was entirely plausible that I simply hadn't reached the point that effects would start to show.

… wait, was it trying to run away…? Oh fuck that noise.

I launched off of the tree, my arm with the spear snapping forward and impaling the retreating creature, pinning it to the ground.

… belatedly I realized I _probably_ shouldn't have jumped from the twenty foot high branch without some more planning, but you live and you–

 _*whump!*_

… _ow_.

 _Hopefully_ learn.

…

Fucking ow. I think I twisted something.

* * *

[1] watch?v=YexQcXnVSzg

[2] watch?v=v_LFKNghYi8

[3] watch?v=zCRUPWDIgYM


	5. Grimm Beginnings 5

**A.N)-** There seems to be a pattern here. A pattern of fornicating with authors notes.

* * *

I stared at the patches of white on my otherwise tan skin… It… it looked like a skin condition I'd seen before while at work…

Was… was this normal? Or… I hadn't known that was in my genetics. And… and I didn't think that any vitamin deficiencies would lead to this… could they…?

Beneath the multicolored glow of the crystals in the main cavern, I sat on the hood of my car, staring at my forearms… I'd recently taken down another of those big bear hollows. I'd been ranging further and further from my temple… okay, 'my' temple only in so much as I was the only resident.

It had to be… right? This was normal when you had a primarily meat diet, right…?

I mean… it wasn't scurvy but…

My hand clenched into a fist so hard that my bones creaked and it trembled, nails drawing blood from my palm.

They didn't hurt! I wasn't sore or achy or anything, I just… had white patches on my skin now. Totally normal.

…

Totally normal…

A shuddering breath escaped me as I looked away, unable to keep looking at my hand as I let it open… "… what am I doing to myself…"

The familiar walls of the temple became blurry as hot tears started to gather in my eyes before slowly sliding down my cheeks as I curled up into a ball, hugging my knees to my chest. My eyes scrunched closed as I took another shuddering breath, laying my head against my knees. I couldn't lie to myself… no matter how much I wanted to. I was changing, I wasn't… I didn't know what was going on and it _terrified_ me, the realization of what was happening crashing down on me from the undeniable patches on my skin…

The sharper teeth? Getting worn down weird. The hair? I'd already been going gray before all of this, young or not. The strength had just been too useful to question too much. But this…? This I couldn't just ignore.

I sighed, hugging myself tightly despite the terrible weight in my gut.

Eating these things was changing me…

But… but I was _so hungry_.

I was ranging further and further out in search of food, getting further away from my Temple. The deer were getting smart and staying away… and these things were just coming straight to me… I…

Slowly, I breathed in deep, filling my lungs entirely with air, taking in all of my fear, my horror, all of the negative bullshit… and then blew it out with my breath, emptying my lungs entirely.

Tears still flowed down my cheeks, but I felt at least a bit better. I needed to find an alternative food source, I needed to go out and try and find civilization, and I needed to accept that I was changing as well as figure out how to deal with it.

What's my first step? And then what's the next? Take it bit by bit, analyze, think, plan, _do_. Don't hesitate or be paralyzed by indecision.

My eyes opened up even as I gave my legs a squeeze. I'll survive, and I'll move on, just got to go one step at a time.

-oOo-

 **"Rose?"**

My eyes blinked open blearily before I cringed slightly at the harsh light, raising a hand to rub the sleep from my eyes, "Andy…?" Focusing through the light of the morning behind him, I looked up at the green eyes of the knight and pushed myself upright, "What is it?"

 **"I hath a way… that you can hunt alongside ne."** He scowled away from me for a moment before muttering, **"Hath… _hath_ … haghhh… _have_. There we go."**

I blinked at him in confusion for a moment, "Wait, back up, you're talking like you have lips…?"

 **"'irds can do it without lits, and I ate a lot of the 'ird ones,"** he stretched out one of his arms, the wing extending. It was almost identical to a Nevermore's now that I looked at it, his arm proper was almost covered in the bone plating, but aside from that and the hand at the main 'joint' of the wing, it could have passed for one of the avian Grimm's wings.

"That's useful… why didn't you do it in the first place though?"

He was quiet for a moment before sighing, refolding the wing as he sat before me in the cavern, **"Never had reason to really try it."**

I cringed sympathetically, "Well… that's morbid…"

 **"Heh… a little, yes."** He sounded like he was smiling even as he waved a hand dismissively, **"Sorry."**

But I shook my head, "Don't be sorry, it's not your fault. Anyways, you said you had a way for me to go with you…?"

He nodded before reaching out to gently pick me up, carefully wrapping me in my own cloak some before adding a one of the furs. "Hey, it's not _that_ cold out." I grinned up at him to ensure he knew I was kidding and got a little chuckle out of it.

 **"Don't want you to get hurt."** He said simply. He hesitated, holding me up by the waist with his large hands, and I rested my arms against them for comfort.

Blinking up at Andoriol, I prompted, "What is it?"

 **"This… could… ah, it's likely strange and disconcerting."**

My eyebrows drew down as I considered that, "… okay… well, I promise not to freak out…? It'd have to be pretty bad to mess with meeEEE–?! Holy crap you have a lot of legs now!"

I ended in a shrill little shriek as the interlocking bone plates that covered his abdomen unfolded into three pairs of legs that ended in sharp little tips. I stared, trying to process what I was looking at… it was like on either side of where abs would have been on a guy there was a pair of these insectoid-like legs… they'd folded upwards into this interlocking diagonal pattern across his stomach before he'd unfolded them to reveal the fuzzy, downy center…

A thought occurred to me and I scowled up at him, "You did that on purpose."

The infuriating chuckle assured me that, yes, he really had. Ugh. Rolling my eyes, I squirmed a bit in his hands to get more comfortable as he held me off of the ground, "Did… you eat a Deathstalker or something…?"

 **"… yes."**

My head jerked up, "… wait, seriously?"

 **"Well… what's a Deathstalker?"**

"Ah…" If he really was an alien… then he probably didn't know the names of any of the Grimm or anything. I gestured with a hand as I described it, "It looks like a really big, armored scorpion sort of thing."

 **"Ah,"** he said in realization before nodding confidently, **"Then yes."**

Shaking my head, but smiling in spite of myself, I grinned up at him, "Okay then, so this is going to let me go with… you…" I trailed off, eyes widening as I finally realizing _how_ it'd let me go with him. I shook my head, "Oh… oh no. No you don't."

 **"Say'ther…"** he scowled briefly in concentration before continuing, **"S _afer_ than the wing."**

"You're not going to hold me in your freaking insect legs!"

-o-

"I can't believe you're holding me in freaking insect legs."

 **"You'll lifff… _libb… live_. Live. Vvvvvvtththh… Vvvv." ** I glanced up at him as he walked, and he likely felt me shift about as he looked down the length of his chest at me to shrug, **"Vee's are hard."**

Sighing, I shook my head before crossing my arms and settling as best I could. I was _not_ pouting.

…

… okay, I wasn't pouting _much_. I didn't really care for insects. And sure, it was surprisingly comfortable here, while he was holding me tight against his stomach, it was sort of like laying on a park bench with a really fuzzy blanket on top of you. Except the bench could shift and would press against you at times. The four lower legs were wrapped around my torso and upper thighs, my shoulders and arms above the legs, the uppermost set of the legs resting atop the others. He kept those ready to snap in place over my head and shoulders to protect me with his armored body and shield me entirely from view if need be.

He was almost silently prowling through the forest on all fours with me in the pouch made by his insectoid abs-legs almost like a baby kangaroo in a pouch. It was like I was the little baby monster tagging along with the parent monster as they went out on a hunting adventure!

… alright, it _was_ kinda cool, but I wasn't about to let him know that.

Andoriol was very careful of my still exceedingly tender… stumps… for which I was grateful. I… still wasn't used to them.

Heh. I guess I didn't have a leg up on the competition anymore.

I could practically hear the sweet, sweet groans of Taiyang and Qrow from here.

"So how do we do this?" I asked the giant grumpily, arms crossed in protest as I was carted around through the forest, in an effort to distract myself from the moderate discomfort and my own thoughts.

 **"Thh... _very_ carefully."**

I rolled my eyes, "Uh huh, more specifically?"

 **"Track something down, pounce, crush its head, cart it back and skin and cook it."** He said simply and quietly as he moved sinuously through the trees, lowering his head close to the ground briefly to... flick his tongue out like a snake's... well I guess that made sense given that he didn't have any obvious nose holes to his mask... face... thing? I hadn't thought of it really. **"Devil's in the details is all. Don't worry though, I've got it. Had a lot ov practice."**

"Yeah... I believe–" I was cut off by one of his ab-legs drifting in front of my face, I glanced up to find that he'd gone still and was focused on a point... huh, a bear. A _normal_ bear rather than an Ursa. One that had just noticed us.

Silence reined in the forest for a moment before Andoriol surged forward, the G-forces very similar to those I put myself through while using Blooming Moon to swing about, and with a golden flash of light the bear was... oh, hoo boy, beheaded.

The golden stinger at the tip of his tail had basically torn the bear's head clean off.

"… well... he suffered a _grizzly_ fate."

The knight snorted in amusement as his tail coiled around the bear, lifting it off of the ground, **"You need to 'ork on your jokes."**

"They're making you laugh! I consider that good!"

-oOo-

"Get-! The fuck-! Away-!"

My chest heaved as I swung my spear about, trying to knock the damn birds out of the air. The fucking things were like crows with white masks and infuriatingly agile.

Ever try to hit a flying bird?

No, me either, not till now.

Pain flashed into existence beneath my eye as one dove at my face before I could react properly, tearing open my cheek, it was only a reflexive jerk of my head that had saved my eye.

Fucking damnit!

They cawed at me mockingly and _oh fuck you and your fucking face!_ I snarled at them, hot blood slowly dripping down my cheeks as the flock of the damn things circled me.

A dozen little cuts adorned my body, my pants little more than shorts now as I leaked from the burning lines of pain along my body. My skin was flush and hot, nearly burning in the cold air. The fur I'd used as a cloak to ward off the chill had been tossed aside for mobility, a decision I was regretting now that my unprotected back had so many little bleeding scratches…

They wanted my eyes. I could tell.

And no, it's not paranoia _if you're actually fucking right-!_ Damnit!

My head bobbed and weaved as I dodged out of the way of two more of the crows, feathers and beaks flashing past my face as I swung my spear, clipping one and knocking it from the sky. A tremor went through my body, a little shaking of hot _fury,_ if I could just get a hold of them I could turn them into _paste!_ But they were too fast!

No! No more of this crap!

I held my spear out to the side, readying my other hand, "Take your best shot!"

There was the flapping of wings behind me but I ignored it even as pain flared in my back as it scratched at my shoulders, gritting my teeth as I waited. Another rushed at my face, faster than I could have reacted, but there were only so many vectors of attack, and my hand swung through the air swatting it down-!

My spear shot out, stabbing the damn thing as it struggled to right itself, another rushing at my face but _fuck you-!_ My head snapped _forward_ this time and my teeth closed around the damn thing's beak.

"… mmmrrmph?" The thing's eye widened as I glared at it, its wings flapping madly to try and escape my jaws, but you want to eat me?! Not so fun with the tables turned is it?!

So I bit down harder!

Its beak shattered and I spit out the bits even as it screamed, falling backwards.

I snarled at them, blood leaking from between my teeth and down my jaw into my two colored beard. I was little better than a feral animal at this moment, and I knew it, but right now? It didn't matter. This wasn't a job for a refined man, a cultured gentleman, or a civilized person.

This? This was the domain of beasts.

Another one of them swooped at me and my swing missed this time, a new line of blazing pain was placed on my face as it scratched at me.

My muscles burned as I swung the spear, faster and faster, my hand lashing out as I fought off these damn crows! Each breath steamed in the air, red from the blood in my mouth as I panted, only one strike out of a dozen actually hit them, and for each one I took down, I gained a half dozen scratches and cuts.

Another swiped at my face and I lashed out, catching it by the wing and _biting it off!_

Growling through the wing, I swung harder, faster, stronger, desperately swatting them from the sky! Biting clean through the feathered mess I swallowed a piece of it before roaring incoherently and wordlessly in challenge to the damn things!

Time blurred into a mess of feathers and blood and pain and rage. Biting at the damn things whenever they dared go for my face! Swatting them from the air, breaking them even as I died by inches!

Until there was nothing left.

I twitched, chest heaving as my breath came out as pants around the dead creature hanging from my jaws. My eyes jumped around, searching for the next target… but… but there was nothing else. Only the blood seeping from my wounds to the cold ground, the dead and broken bodies of the birds sublimating around me, their blood evaporating… but mine remaining…

Shaking… I was shaking… nothing…? Nothing else…?

No sounds in the forest… nothing beyond my panting and the rushing of blood in my ears as my heart thudded in my chest.

Nothing else…

I… the world was getting fuzzy… that terrible clarity was fading and… and I was tired…

I planted the butt of my spear against the dirt, grabbing it with both hands and leaning against it as I tried.. tried to let my heart breathing… heart _beat_ … fuck… _fuck_ …

Needed to eat… needed to feed…

I… cook…? How far was I…? Too far… _too_ far from the Temple… been going further out and couldn't start a fire in time… needed…

My jaw flexed and teeth, sharper than they had any right to be, sunk deeper into the flesh of the dead creature in between them, bones crunching as still hot blood that tasted like liquid vitrol washed across my tongue… and it was _sweet_ and everything I needed…

A hand came up to pull the dead bird away from my face as I swallowed the hunk of meat I tore off whole…

I stared down at the body of the bird… a _bite_ taken out of it… and… was I really…?

 _Yes I was damnit!_

With a snarl, I took another bite out of it, tearing out a hunk of it, feathers and all. Fuck it. Fuck the hesitation. If I hesitated, I'd die. If I spent time worrying about my humanity, I'd die. If I got hung up on the possibility of diseases, I'd die.

I dug in, tearing into the hollow bird with my teeth even as its blood splattered over my face.

Existential crisis _later._ Surviving _now._

I'm _me_. Even if being me includes eating shit raw as hell.

-oOo-

"Hey, Andy?"

He made an inquisitive grunt from above his wing.

Things had been going well for the past week, even though my aura had yet to recover, my strength was definitely returning. I could actually move myself about on my own now, it seemed that my aura was _functioning_ , because there's no way I should be this close to fine this soon after such a horrible wound, but I was.

"What do you do for fun?" I asked as I splashed some water on my bare arm.

We'd talked a fair bit, and with my savior actually _articulate_ now it was quite a bit easier, though he had a strange accent due to having to use his tongue in creative ways. He was actually a decent conversationalist, enjoying making jokes and laughing easily, though he was also out of practice. There were numerous pauses every time he spoke, even after he'd gotten the hang of speaking like he was. But we'd talked of the world and things that any child learned growing up in Remnant, while he'd talked about things he'd seen out in the Grimm lands. Understandably, he knew a _lot_ about Grimm, though not their official titles or anything.

He shifted above me slightly, the black feathers of his outstretched wing ruffling slightly, **"… the snappy answer is 'hot ladies' or such like that."**

I snorted and smiled, "Well, there's probably at least a _few_ Aura-enhanced size queens out there that'd like to meet you."

The giant chuckled above me before it faded into a pleasant hum, a sound almost like the lowest pipes of a pipe organ, **"What brought this on?"**

"Well…" I started, trying to organize my thoughts into something a bit more coherent as I bathed in the river. My clothes were on the bank not far away, and Andoriol was using his wing to shield me from too much sun as well as his own sight. Quite the gentleman. "I get that you're a giant badass monster, which is probably pretty cool by itself, but that can't be it. And I'm sort of struggling to figure out what you could do to entertain yourself… because otherwise you'd just go crazy out here by yourself. And you're obviously not crazy–" he snorted and I grinned, "Okay, not _really_ crazy." Looking up at the expanse of black feathers over me I asked, "So… what do you do?"

 **"… used to sing."** My chest ached just a bit at the implication… until he lost his lips. Oh, wow, that sucked. **"Before all of this I wrote but…"** I stared up in the direction I knew his head was, a little surprised. He didn't usually talk about his life before all of this, it was obvious that it hurt to do so, no matter how muted. The wing shifted as he shrugged, **"But, I couldn't do that while surviving… been carving ever since."**

Now that's interesting. I scrubbed a bit at my torso, trying to get the grime and nastiness of the sweat that had been crusting as it dried on me, though without soap or shampoo, the amount of work I could actually accomplish about the oils on my skin and hair were minimal at best. Scowling slightly at my lack of progress, I prompted the knight, "Carving?"

 **"The claws aren't great for most little things,"** he said in bemusement, holding out his other hand just above the water to bring it into my view as he clacked the bone claws together, **"But they can carve quite well…"** Andoriol hesitated for a moment before retracting the arm, **"I grew them because I was growing and couldn't seem to stop… having fine dexterity didn't seem like such a big deal anymore…"**

"You can change your form that freely…?" Putting my hands on the riverbed beneath me, I pushed myself up and shifted my position slightly to work on my other... stump. I knew Taiyang would have said I looked beautiful regardless and… and I was sure he'd say so despite my new condition, but _I_ knew the truth. My skin was _horrible_ right now and definitely was in need of exfoliating and more. First order of business after seeing my family and getting Andy taken care of? Full make over.

 **"Adding is easy… removing is… hard. Easier to replace something with something else, a new feature in its place… outright removing… is harder."** I rolled my eyes, brilliant speech there, very informative. A small, rumbling growl came from him before he continued, **"It's frustratingly hard to describe. There's no analogous sensation or… _anything_ really. I focus on a trait as I consume the Grimm and its mass is converted into the analogous structure growing or shifting on my body, but it's not something _instinctual_ … but neither is it an entirely learned skill. Describing it is… problematic."**

… and then he goes and says stuff like that. "Oh. Huh."

The water was cool, making goosebumps rise against my skin as I twisted in place, looking myself over, mentally cataloguing my scars and situation, my stumps… they were looking better, a little less like burnt hamburger now and more like old stumps. Still really tender, but at least I didn't have to worry about a little twitch making me practically collapse in pain now.

"You can really control your physiology though?" Coming to the conclusion that I was as clean as I was gonna get without products, I began to work my way back towards the bank with my hands. It was… well, really awkward to move about like this, but it was something I'd probably have to get used to unless Atlas had finally perfected those prosthetics. The water splashed just a little bit as I pulled myself out of the river and onto my cloak.

 **"Yes, though it seems to require me to eat to catalyze the transformation."** I gave myself a little shake, sending droplets flying everywhere from my hair. **"Admittedly… after I accepted my situation, experimenting with my physiology was… fun."**

A small smile appeared on my face at hearing that, it was actually kind of cute… well, as cute as an enormous, built-for-battle giant Grimm knight could be considered 'cute'. Ugh… I was _not_ getting dry at any reasonable speed… "Hey big guy, could I borrow a wing real quick?"

He made an inquisitive noise even as he brought the wing not acting as an umbrella over beside me. Reaching out and grabbing some of the large feathers, I tugged the black wing closer and used it as a towel, **"Urk-?!"** His entire body twitched and the wing I was holding nearly jerked away, but with my grip on it the motion started to move me and he immediately stopped, **"Rose-?!"**

"Oh hush, I can't use my cloak because I'm sitting on it and it's stained with my blood." The feathers of a Nevermore were tough like armor, but the downy ones beneath those were soft as silk. It was actually an interesting sensation. "Your reaction was hilarious though."

Andoriol sighed above me, his arm relaxing to allow me to better tug it about to dry myself off, **"… a little warning next time please?"**

"Mmmm…" I hummed as if I was actually considering it before grinning cheekily, "Nah."

 **"What a terrible maiden have I saved?"** He asked with an exaggerated sigh, making me laugh.

Dry enough and satisfied with the embarrassment that I'd put him through, I let go of his massive wing and gave it a gentle push, which he understood and pulled it away. Getting panties on when you couldn't stand up was a pain. An enormous one at that. Thankfully they were basically clean as were the rest of my clothes. I'd washed them and set them on a rock on the bank and Andoriol had moved that out into the sun to dry them out while I'd bathed.

It was as I slowly buttoned up my blouse that something occurred to me, "You said you sang… couldn't you sing now…?"

That seemed to give him pause, **"… probably."**

"I'd like to hear it… you singing that is. I'm decent by the way." The expanse of black was moved away and I looked up, smiling up at the giant. I'd heard his singing in the dreams, but that was different, and he deserved to at least have a fraction of who he was back after all he'd done for me.

He looked away briefly in what I assumed was embarrassment, **"It'd… sound weird with my voice. I don't really know any songs that'd sound good with such heavy bass."**

"Still," I pressed, still smiling up at him even as I held my arms out and flexed my hands twice, like Yang always did when she wanted upsies, "You must have gotten pretty good with all that practice."

Another one of those pleased hums like a pipe organ as his large hand settled around my waist and my hands went to grasp his large claws for stability. He settled me in the clutch of his ab-legs before passing me my cloak, **"I like to think that I did… yes. But I've changed a fair bit since then…"**

"For me? Pleeeeaaaaase?"

 **"We'll see."** He mused, **"Give me some time to think of a good song at very least."**

I pouted up at him playfully, "Awwww…"

* * *

... huh, no musics or jokes. -cries at failure-


	6. Grimm Beginnings 6

**A.N.)-** Small authors note this time: I am **_so_** sorry about the heavy use of lyrics in this chapter. I couldn't figure out a good way to gloss over them without losing too much of Summer's reactions or other things.

* * *

The sun was setting quietly, the sounds of the animals of the wild filtering in through the cave as I sat beside the softly crackling fire.

Andoriol sat with his back to the interior of the cave, sitting upright in the mouth of the cavern. Much of his body was covered in that bone armor, with only small gaps of black beneath the joints, his back was mostly smooth with only two rows of small spikes going down it. The golden tip of his tail was softly prodding the fire nearly thirty feet away from the mouth of the cave. His tail was actually nearly as long as he was tall, at least at my best guess, I had yet to see him stand up fully, he preferred to move in this low crouch… which… to be fair, was probably because he was _taller_ than the trees.

Softly, he hummed some sort of tune to himself, saying he was trying to remember the words. It sort of sounded like it was a few separate songs…

With a sigh like an organ, his head turned so I could see one glowing green eye, **"I'm sorry if I don't do this justice."**

The knight took a deep breath, and I almost held my breath in anticipation, the songs in his memories had gotten progressively better even as he'd slowly become less human, and to hear what he could do now… I admit that I looked forward to it.

[1] **"I… like… big _butts_ and I cannot lie~" **He twisted in place to point back at me, eyes sparkling as he practically bounced in place, **"You other brothers can't deny, tha' when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist and a round thing in your face you get- _sprung~"_**

I snorted, nearly spitting as I covered my face, trying desperately not to laugh and failing horribly as my whole body shook as peals of laughter escaped, "You asshole!" He chuckled, folding his hands back in his lap as I struggled to get my laughter back under control, still giggling as I asked, "What, is that supposed to be the song of your people?"

Andoriol chuckled, shaking his head, **"Not _my_ people necessarily, but still… it made you smile… that's enough for me."**

Rolling my eyes, I picked up a rock from the cavern floor and chucked it at his head, and though I didn't have my Aura still, it sailed true, thunking against his bone mask harmlessly, "Come on ya dork, I want a serious song. Something you'd have sung while you were out on your own."

 **"Alright, alright…"** he said, raising a claw placatingly before turning away, **"Serious one this time…"**

Seeming to gather himself in with the breath he took, he straightened and I think I sort of recognized a singer's posture before he began to sing, [2] **"She put him out… like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette… She broke his heart… he spent his whole life tryin' to forget…"**

I blinked once before settling down into the furs slightly to listen to the soft, somber song, low and almost breathy…

 **"We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time. But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind… until the night…"** A deep breath in the otherwise silent cave, goosebumps rose on my skin, **"He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger… and finally drank away her memory. Life is short but this time it was bigger… than the strength he had to get up off his knees."**

 **"We found him there, face down in the pillow… with a note that said 'I'll love her till I die'…"** my hand pressed against my chest unconsciously, trying to soothe the ache that was building there. Thoughts of Raven and the way Taiyang had gotten when she'd left him with Yang flashed through my mind, **"And when we buried him beneath the willow, and the angels sang a whiskey lullaby…"**

 **"La la la la la la la… la la la la la la laaa…"** I could only stare at the back of the knight as he sung, a quiet ache in his tone that mirrored what was in my chest as the orange glow of the fire danced across the white and black expanse of his back, **"La la la la la la la… la la la la la la laaa…"**

 **"The rumors flew… but nobody knew how much she blamed herself…"** His voice pitched upwards, his claws and palms playing out soft percussion against his armored body, **"For years and years… she tried to hide the whiskey on her breath…"**

A small sound nearly escaped me and a hand flew to my mouth to cover it and suppress the sound, unwilling to interrupt the song. Some traitorous part of me hoped that that's what Raven was going through for having left Taiyang and Yang as she had but… but I felt I knew where the song was going and god I didn't wish that on her–

 **"She finally drank her pain away… a little at a time. But she never could get drunk enough to get him off her mind, until the night…"** I choked back a sob, both hands covering my mouth as the world began to blur, tears gathering in my eyes, **"She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger… and finally drank away his memory… Life is short but this time it was bigger… than the strength she had to get up off her knees."**

My eyes clenched shut, hot tears rolling down my cheeks, and unbidden, thoughts of both Raven and Taiyang flashed in my head, in the very ways he had sung about… of me being in those same situations… the sharp, jabbing pain in my heart almost unbearable even as he continued, **"We found her there, face down in the pillow… clinging to his picture for dear life… We laid her next to him beneath the willow… and the angels sang a whiskey lullaby."**

 **"La la la la la la la… la la la la la la laaa…"** quietly he played out percussion against his body as he sang, **"La la la la la la la… la la la la la la laaa…"** The precussion stopped and he sang one more time, **"La la la la la la la… la la la la la la laaaaaa…"**

For a long moment, silence reigned in the cavern, only broken by the soft popping and cracks of the fire in front of me. And I just stared at him, my mouth opening and closing silently as tears worked their way down my cheeks. "A-Andy…"

 **"I considered suicide several times…"** he said without further preamble, his rumbling bass soft, still staring out at the night sky, **"I spent years searching for people… searching for humans or… _anything_ … someone to converse with or interact with… and all I could find were monsters and beasts... I didn't have my girl, my family, my…" **the knight trailed off and gave a little shrug, **"My... _anything_ …"**

His long tail prodded the fire, making it pop and flare as his head tilted downwards, quietly admitting, **"I came close once… it had to have been three years since I'd arrived, I'd stopped to drink and…"** one of his claws came up to almost unconsciously touch his bone mask, **"And I saw myself… and I didn't _know_ myself. My eyes weren't this color… they were this faded olive green, not this brilliant emerald… there was nothing of who I was in my face and… and after so long without hearing my name or thinking it… I… I couldn't remember it…"**

My breathing hitched as the realization washed over me, and I tried to sit up off of the furs, "Andy…?"

 **"Isn't my name…"** the giant confirmed with a small shake of his head, his hand falling, **"It's a name of a character I made a long time ago that stuck with me… it was… unique, and I know that my name was quite generic."** A weak chuckle escaped him, **"The realization hurt, sent me spiraling into depression, and generally _sucked_ quite a lot. I went on though… because even if I struggled to remember their names, I remembered that my family would be disappointed if I took the easy way out… if I just… gave up."** The words were nearly spat out before he sighed, **"But that they wouldn't have wanted me to suffer either… that… made it hard."**

Desperately, I searched for words, "Andy, it's…"

 **"It's okay,"** the giant looked over his shoulder at me, his eyes half closing in what had to be a smile for his otherwise unmoving face, **"I'm not alone anymore. I have hope. I spent so long searching for people, and now I've found them. Even if it's hard, or nearly impossible to become accepted… I have _hope_."** His pupils glowed a soft blue briefly before looking back out at the forest outside the cavern, **"And that is all I need."**

Mouth working silently for a long moment, my hand raised towards him briefly in an unconscious attempt at comfort before it dropped away. No. Years of loneliness and no comfort? After all of what I'd already seen in his memories? _No._ My lips pressed into a thin line as I pushed myself up, tossing my cloak aside.

The sound garnered his attention, the knight turning to look over his shoulder at me with his glowing eyes in curiosity as I used my hands to swing myself over towards the fire and his tail as it prodded it. The sinuous length started to retract before I grabbed a hold of it, plopping myself down beside it as I hugged the bit just before the golden stinger to my chest, the warm tail still thicker than my thighs at that point. The tail twitched slightly in my grasp as he looked at me clinging to it and staring up at him, "Pull me up."

 **"Rose…?"**

"Pull me up there." I _ordered_ , I was a woman on a mission and I'd been the leader of my team for a _reason_ damnit.

Despite the question in his emerald eyes, he complied.

Carefully, he lifted his tail and I hugged onto it tightly as he brought me over towards him, and as he swung me around just in front of his face, I threw myself out off of the tail. The giant twitched away even as his hands rushed up to try and catch me as I flung myself across the gap between his tail and head. But even weakened as I was, I was plenty able to do this much, my fingers caught the edges of the visor in his helm, his eye reflexively closing as I came so close to it. The large, interlocking fangs of his jaw pressed against my stomach as I heaved myself over with a little grunt, dropping onto his shoulder.

It was only when I wasn't pressed against his face that his mouth opened and he spoke, **"Rose, what are you–"**

But I cut him off by throwing my arms around his neck and hugged him tight, making him stiffen briefly. His neck had several bony plates to protect it, but was still one of the least covered portions of his massive body, and it was one of the few parts of him I could truly hug, "Andoriol… you've got more than just hope. You've got _me_."

There was silence in the cavern for a long moment before my friend's breathing hitched, and as he said my name once more, softly and thick with emotion, I just hugged his neck all the tighter. His body shook softly, his head tilting downwards as he did, a hand coming up to gently touch my back as the giant quietly cried, and I murmured soothing nothings into his neck., "You don't have to be that strong anymore, I'm here to help you just like how you've helped me."

A strangled laugh escaped him before he cut it off, shaking his head, his rumbling voice sending vibrations through my body as I pressed against his neck, **"If you pull that off, you'll be the maiden that saved a monster."**

"I can make it happen." I said with conviction, even as I smiled against the soft black down of his neck, my own tears of sympathy soaking the feathers. He smelt of blood, the forest, and smoke, a faint smell… And a little hot pit of anger wormed itself into my stomach, "And you're _not_ a monster."

 **"Not in demeanor, no. But in form, yes."**

"Anyone who says that you're a monster is a dunghead of a dumbass." I said with conviction against his neck.

A choked little laugh escaped him, and his claws carefully pressed against my back, something almost scaldingly hot dripped against my arm and I pulled my face away to look… and found red tears running down his mask and falling onto my arm… a brilliant red of the blood of a Grimm… he made this little hiccupping sound, **"Sorry… sorry…"**

"Andy," I said gently, speaking to him as gently as I would have Yang or Ruby when they were having one of their tantrums, "You've got nothing to be sorry about."

He let out little laugh, **"Not– Not what you're thinking about. I'm sorry about the overly emo tears, makes the second time I've cried on you…"** The large, warm claws gently rubbed my back as he trailed off briefly before continuing, **"No… I'm _happy_ … I just… _thank you_."**

"Thank you for saving my life," I said quietly, tightening my grip on his neck, my arms barely able to stretch around it at all.

 **"Thank you for giving me one again… beyond surviving…"**

Silence reigned then, as I hugged him tight, his hand pressed softly against my back in the best returning of the comfort he could manage. The warmth of the fire wasn't obvious this far away, it was a little one really, but it paled to the warmth of my Grimm knight in any case, and the soft down of his neck warded away the growing chill in the air. No words really needed to be said as we gently held one another in the night. The sounds of the forest outside and the fire inside were the only sounds needed as he slowly breathed.

He was the first to break the silence, his voice soft and rumbling and shaking my whole body with where I was sat atop his shoulder and hugging his neck, **"By the way…"**

"Hm?"

 **"That one _is_ a song of my people."**

…

I snorted, burying my face against his neck and giving it a slap with one of my hands, "Oh shut up you ass."

-oOo-

[3] "Do dooo… yeah yeah yeeaaahhhh…"

"Rawr!"

"Mmm hands in the air let me show you how…" I murmured as I bounced of a rock, launching myself over the head of one of the hollow werewolves and slammed a bare foot into the head of one of them behind it, making its mask crack and used the blow to go over it.

Humming the tune quietly, I landed behind the werewolf and reached back, grabbing it by its fur and _heaving_ , tossing it into another of its compatriots.

I paused to glare at the still extended arm. The hair on my body was getting darker quickly, and shaggier… ugh… definitely changing. Great.

The next in line rushed at me and my hips twisted, left hand swatting its claws aside even as my right plunged forward into its mouth to grab its tongue–

"Hrrruh–?"

–before ripping it out! Hot blood sprayed on my face as the thing screamed, stumbling backwards as I spun backwards and threw the already sublimating tongue into the face of the werewolf I'd leapt over, who'd turned around and started to lunge.

"Come and move you hands and sing wha-ah-ah-ah~" The meaty smack of the tongue slamming into its masked face staggered it briefly, long enough for me to surge forward, right hand flexing into a clawlike shape as I fell into the beastly nature I was taking on, and I swung it in an uppercut, burying it deep into the werewolf's unprotected stomach and digging it upwards through the muscle and viscera until I felt the thing's still beating heart… and then clenched my hand and tore it outwards, sending blood and gore splattering everywhere as I ripped out the creatures guts, [4] "Lookin' for the words and la la la…"

"You and me can sing this melody…" I threw myself backwards, shoulder checking the still stunned and tongue-less werewolf before reaching up and grabbing it by the face and twisting my hips, throwing it over my shoulder, a quick spinning on the balls of my feet allowing it to drop onto my shoulder instead of onto the ground and break its neck, "Don't remember the words really ooh ooh ohah ahhh…"

I dropped the dying werewolf and dashed off to the side, heading full tilt as the rest of the pack rushed after me without fear.

Morning ritual: 'Fight a whole bunch of these things and eat one of their faces for breakfast' was well under way. Only about a half dozen more. I _probably_ could have taken them in a straight fight, the werewolves without the armor were pretty easy really, but no reason to take any chances, "Doo doo da doo doodoo wha ah ah ah…"

Flintnapping! Level up! Heh. Finally got the hang of this bullshit.

I grinned a bit at the sharpened rock in my hand with a fluting in it to slot into place atop a long stick and then be tied into place by woven plant fibers. Because survivor-ing! … sort of. Eh.

My hand froze as I smiled at it, and I turned my hand to look at it from a couple angles… my hand… my fingernails were white… huh… well shit.

I stared at the new fingernails for a moment, longer than I remembered… and pointier… huh, wonder when that'd happened… I flicked it a few times with a snap… and then shrugged and picked up my sturdiest spear shaft and began to wrap the spearhead onto it. Those crystals might be good for this… hrm… I'd have to look into that…

… oh god, if I'm making a +1 Fire Spear by strapping a red crystal onto the tip of a stick I'm going to laugh so fucking hard. And also probably burn myself, but _mostly_ laugh my ass off.

-o-

… oh… oh wow.

I just sort of… gaped… I mean… oh… oh wow…

The trees had been these dim crystals in the daylight, which had been really pretty but… but as night fell here, almost a week's travel from my temple, this… _wow_.

As far as the eye could see, the world was lit by the glow of the crystalline trees, lighting up the night in the soft purple glow… bushes of maroon crystal on the ground… it was… okay. Damn. Wow.

Reaching out, I gently placed a palm against the nearest of the glowing trees… and it… it was _warm_ … it felt almost… alive. It was glorious.

Unbidden, a smile of simple wonder and joy spread across my face, the first in far too long. A soft, breathy laugh escaped me as I looked around, hoping to find a place to fall asleep for the night. The sack I'd made from dried deer-skins slung over my shoulder and carrying a couple different things, my rope, some hubcaps, my fire-bundle dangling from the bag, my spare spears slung through the leather bandolier I'd made…

And so the snow began to fall, a twinkling little star of light that fluttered in and out of color as it drifted down from the dark sky. And I nearly gasped as it was but the first before the snow began to come down, slowly at first, but gradually more. I held out a hand, letting one of them fall into my palm… a perfectly normal snowflake, that almost instantly melted against the heat of my palm… it was cool, but not the frigid cold I knew it should have been… my smile widened as I looked down at the thin layer of black fur across my skin.

"When winter comes… when life is frozen… when the moors they hide away under the snow…" [5]

I was a mountain man! My side of the… crystal forest? Not as much of a ring to it as 'My side of the mountain', but I think mine was cooler. "Fingers of doom will clutch the chosen… all beasts will shiver from the lion to the crow." Both metaphorically and punnily.

This… this would stick with me in the best of ways. More than the splatter of hot blood against my face, more than the taste of raw flesh and fur against my tongue as I tore into a still half-alive creature, more than the pain and loneliness… I'd remember _this_.

With a happy exhalation that misted in the cold air, I strode forward through the crystal forest, as the sparkling lights of the snow fell around me, lit by the purple glow of the trees. Onward, and upward. "Walls will not hold the wiiiinterrrr… over and under crawwwlll…"

-oOo-

I awoke with a small snort, spitting out a little downy feather as I did. My face scrunched up slightly as I let out a little unhappy noise at being awoken… what was going on…?

Pushing up off of my bed… no, my makeshift bed against… Andy's neck…?

I blinked blearily as my brain caught up with what was going on around me… right, fought a goliath, lost my… lost a good bit of my legs, was being taken care of by a not-Grimm… had fallen asleep atop said not-Grimm too from the looks of things…?

The massive knight slept soundly, his back pressed up against the cavern wall, his chin resting against his chest and his glowing eyes closed as he slept quietly. At some point, he'd pulled up one of the furs and laid it across me, his own body wrapped up in his wings as he'd curled up to save space… I'd fallen asleep basically hugging his neck and straddling his enormous shoulder… which was surprisingly comfy all considered, given that it was almost solid bone plating beneath me… my hands slowly traced the contours of the bone plates on his neck idly as my brain rebooted.

And it was about that point that my brain decided to remember why I'd woken up.

A forest of Dust crystals.

He knew about...

A _forest_ of Dust crystals.

I just...

A forest of _Dust crystals._

Seriously–?!

 _A forest of Dust crystals._

Where do I even start?!

* * *

I think I overcompensated.

[1] watch?v=6v9at5RlFu4&feature= &t=29s

[2] watch?v=7gV3g9LCvPc

[3] watch?v=A67ZkAd1wmI

[4] watch?v=cEB1EriHgFA

[5] watch?v=ZDt3jeXGfDU


	7. Grimm Beginnings 7

A.N.)- Please return to your regularly scheduled fornication with Authors Notes.

* * *

"You don't know where that is?!"

 **"Not really? I could find it without too much trouble since I have a general idea where it is and I can fly, but I couldn't describe where it is to you."**

"I just, that… it could change _everything!_ Trees of Dust! To be able to _grow_ Dust! Do you have any idea how enormous that'd be?!"

 **"No. But if they're crystals it's entirely possible that they grow on their own and that those grew in those shapes and structures due to their environment over millennia."**

I blinked a few times before crossing my arms over my chest and pouting, "You just have to ruin my fun don't you?"

 **"It's a talent, yes."**

With a small sigh, I let my head fall back against his armored chest as he slowly turned the hunk of meat above the fire over with his tail. "… that forest could be a huge boon by the way… I'm not kidding about that… that much Dust… so easily gathered…" I gave a small shake of my head, looking up at the ceiling of the cavern, "It could change things…"

 **"It's quite a ways into the… you call them the 'Grimm Lands' correct?"** I nodded, making a little sound of agreement and getting a small shrug in response, **"It's several days flight from here at minimum. By _my_ speeds, and I'm not a slow flier."**

"Still… that could be a peace offering for when we introduce you to the others."

He was quiet for several long moments, and I glanced up at him, "What is it big guy?"

 **"… mixed feelings about the harvesting of that forest honestly. It was impossibly beautiful in person, but that my knowledge would help people would be amazing…"** he gave a little shrug, eyes locked on the meat he was cooking, **"Like I said, mixed feelings."**

"I can see why… I only saw it in a memory and it was still amazing." Relaxing into the soft down of his stomach, I watched the quietly dancing flames for a moment before saying, "I'd like you to take me sometime… if you can. It's something I'd like to see… maybe show my whole family if it's possible."

One of those pleased, organ-hums came from him, **"I'd like that, if it's at all possible."**

"So when's lunch going to be done?"

 **"Give me a minute,"** he said with a good natured eyeroll, **"Eesh, you're worse than a newborn bird, ah, ah, ah, feed me."**

I grinned, "Well I _am_ a chick, so cheep cheep, feed me."

The giant gave a chuffing laugh at that, turning the leg of meat over once more.

-oOo-

I grit my teeth, resisting the urge to scratch at the soft fur.

Ugh, damnit, why was I itching so badly?!

I'd checked for fleas, ticks, bugs, rashes, _anything_ that could be the cause of it and I'd found nothing! Nothing at all!

Shifting in place sitting atop a branch, I forced down the frustration I felt. My forearms just itched so damn bad! I didn't want to open up my skin by scratching at them with my... fingernails? Claws? I wasn't sure what they qualified for anymore, they were sharp and nearly indestructible, but they were still... fingernail shaped.

But yeah, I didn't want to use those things to rip open my skin due to a freaking _itch_.

The moon hung low in the sky, brilliantly bright...

I sighed as I stared up at it, trying to distract myself from that _insufferable itch_.

Catching myself mid scratch I nearly snarled at my offending hand, I already looked like sasquatch with long white hair and similarly colored beard, I didn't need to have some big bleeding scratches on my forearms to... add... to...

…

… why is there white beneath my skin...?

Almost hesitantly, I reached out to poke the white spot, it was hard and... almost like bone...? Ignoring the limited blood that was atop it...

Curious... and also still itching like a motherfucker, I reached out and carefully kept scratching... almost peeling the skin and fur away like one would a scab... revealing a thick bony bit beneath my skin... it only reached so far... but the rest of my flesh began to heal back up against the bony protrusion once it'd been revealed.

… if I was turning into a sasquatch arrancar I'ma be so frustrated.

It was smooth...? And once I'd wiped the blood off onto the rest of my soft coating of fur... it was dry...

Strange... fascinating! But strange.

I sighed, shifting in place as I examined my arm.

[1] "I can feel it deep within, just beneath my skin..." my lips quirked upwards at the thought.

My pants hadn't _completely_ dissolved yet, but they were more shorts than anything else at this point, tight as they were with all the muscle and fur I'd put on... it was still better than nothing. I had a blanket of a bear pelt that I normally wore like freaking Herakles when I was out and about. Super useful staying warm out here in the middle of the snow, fur or not.

"In the closet in the halls..."

You'd have to excuse me if I wasn't particularly eager to get cold bits of ice running down my jimmies. Terrifying monstrosity of a person or not, snow down your pants was _not_ something to look forward to. I'd been here... six months now maybe...? Maybe seven...? It was hard to keep track of time really, the days had started to blur together after a certain point.

[2] "… nah, crawling probably fits better..." I murmured before starting to hum, staring at the slight dripping of blood from the recently revealed bone plate.

Now made aware of it, I began to feel around my skin, paying attention to the tension, ductility, and hardness of my musculature... trying to determine the placement of my muscles and bones and see if I could find... yeah... more of them...

Small, but they were almost like freckles... goodness gracious me...

…

I had to pause for a moment there.

… 'goodness gracious'. The fuck was I turning into, my Grandma at Church?

I should at _least_ be at Grandma amongst polite company damnit! Not church! Damn piece of shit!

… I'll save 'Grandma and me hanging out' for when something bad actually happens rather than something weird.

"These woooouuuunds willll not heallll..." I murmured, amused at the irony. I was in all black with a weird hair color and hurting myself. How much more 'goff' could you get?

… now I just needed fishnet and some piercings and some make up and we're good to go for maximum gothiness. Or was it emo? Heh. Regardless. Irony.

-oOo-

"Hey, Andy?"

 **"Mhm?"**

"What does your name mean?"

The knight paused briefly as he crawled up the cliff face to look down at me in the gentle embrace of his ab-legs, but he shrugged, returning to climbing, **"Nothing."**

"… what?"

 **"I made it up. Basically threw some letters together inspired by the phonetics of a fictional universe in my home world. It has no meaning except to me."**

I stared, the words almost didn't compute. A name without any connotation to colors or music or expression…? That… I know it hadn't been _that_ long since it started but the only person I knew that didn't have a name referencing a color in some way was Ozpin himself… my brain worked furiously, and my mouth worked before I could stop it, "Marrow."

Andoriol paused once more, **"Huh…?"**

"Do… do you remember the color naming rule I mentioned?" I said slowly, my brain trying to catch up to what my mouth was suggesting, "About how we're all named after colors or something like colors?"

 **"Mhm?"**

"Well, your name doesn't fit it at all, does it?"

 **"Not a bit, no."** He agreed with bemusement, starting the climb again.

"Well… why not Marrow? Andoriol Marrow," I hastened to add, to clarify that I didn't mean abandoning his current name, "You're mostly white with bits of red… it fits."

He was silent for several long moments before saying, **"Marrow… Andoriol Marrow… heh… I like i–"**

 _*CRCK–!*_

 **"AH!"**

"What?!" I nearly jerked around, looking about quickly, my brain immediately jumping to possibilities. It had been a resounding crack, like a high caliber rifle-! Hunters had found us-?! People-?! "What's happened?" My wrists twitched instinctively, vainly trying to unhook Blooming Moon, but instead I had to cling to his ab-legs, my silver eyes searching frantically for the attack, but I could see nothing as Andoriol's hand came up to his face, his wing flaring out defensively to shield his body and me but also blocking my vision entirely.

I grit my teeth, looking up at him, "Andy! Report!"

 **"… ow."**

"That's not helpful!" I snapped, in full combat mode even if I wasn't able to actually _do_ anything yet, "What happened?! Are we under attack?!"

 **"Don't know. Don't think so… no follow ups…"** his wing shifted slightly, though the legs around me shifted to mostly shield me as he pulled his hands away from his face and his wing away from his body, **"… my face just… suddenly hurt."**

"Let me see." I ordered, looking up at him, my eyes still darting about and searching for the source of the attack, a sniper shooting at the head of the Grimm? It'd make sense given his size and armoring. A Hunter that could reach out and touch someone with a ludicrously high caliber sniper rifle would be my first choice to start an engagement with a Grimm like Andoriol, lure him into position or just pin him down with fire… followed by artillery.

 _Lots_ of artillery.

That worried me, but first, was he hurt?

Green eyes looked down at me, uninjured thankfully, which is where I'd have aimed if I was fighting him, it was one of the few points of vulnerability on his enormous body… but… "What… hit you?"

There was an enormous crack in his face…? Mask…? Helmet? Regardless, the crack stretched from the base of his left horn down to the right side of his chin, like a crack in a pane of glass, a bullet wouldn't do that though… that was the work of a power blow… Dust usage? No, I'd have seen that, a Semblance…? Possibly, but they probably would have had to been in visual range… and with his wing out of the way I couldn't see anything or anyone…

 **"How bad is it?"** His bass rumble distracted me from my frantic search briefly.

I glanced up, "You've got a crack in your… face."

Without a word, he trailed his claws slowly over the white expanse of his mask, the tips catching in the aforementioned fracture, **"… oh."**

The word was a lot smaller than something his size had any reason to be making as his claws traced the split. What the hell had caused that? I almost started to reach up futilely towards the crack to inspect it myself, but I made sure to keep my hands locked on the legs holding me in place, focus on what's important, "Are you hurt?"

 **"Don't think so… it… wasn't _comfortable_ …"** He trailed off, eyes narrowing at nothing as his tail lashed out behind him, he was still crouched, touching his face with a hand as the other propped him up, **"But it's not sensitive…"**

"What could have caused it?" I asked, worry gnawing in my chest. Even ignoring the fact that I was desperately relying on him to survive right now, he was my _friend_! And he was hurt!

 **"I don't know…"** The slitted pupils refocused and his head jerked up, scanning the area around us on his own this time, **"First time this has happened…"**

Bad reactions, my brain supplied. But a reanalysis disagreed, he'd turtled up instead of moving, and given how tough even the likes of a Nervermore could be after reaching a certain critical mass, it made sense as a first reaction for something as heavily armored as him. A hunter would want to dodge and find cover to conserve their aura, but something as big as him… cover just wasn't a _thing_ really… it was tanking stuff or bust… "Any ideas?"

He paused in thought before shaking his head and starting to climb again, but far more warily this time, **"… none, unfortunately."**

The change was… stark. It was hard to put into words though. He'd gone from an almost casual apex predator to one on the hunt… no, more like a massive, apex herbivore switching to apex predator. It was subtle, he went from quiet plodding to silent stalking, his head sinuously moving about as he scanned the area instead of just giving it cursory looks.

And I was… unsettled.

The heck had happened?

I knew how tough a Grimm could get, disproportionately so compared to their size, and the white bone armor was some of the toughest material out there. A large Deathstalker wasn't dangerous because of its speed or strength, but because of how maddeningly impossible it could be to hurt. And Andy was covered in much thicker plates of the same material… he should have been just short of indestructible outside of his few, limited weak points, and even those should have been tougher than anything that wasn't made of Andoriol.

So what by Dust and the broken moon could make his mask, basically a plate of indestructium over two inches thick, _crack_?

-o-

Four days later, and we still didn't know.

 _*CRCK*_

"What happens when a Hunter, a clockmaker, and a Grimm walk into a bar?"

A wet slurping sound and his head jerked, before his jaws snapped and he swallowed, **"No idea…?"**

"A bad time~!" I said cheerfuly, getting a snort from the giant as I settled in the cradle of his abs-legs.

 **"That was horrible, I expected better jokes from you."** He said good-naturedly before leaning back down and taking another bite out of the side of the Ursa Major, tearing a hunk off of its disappearing flesh. His head did that little jerking motion that some birds or predators would do to toss the meat about midair before biting it again, doing it several times before the hunk of meat was entirely in his mouth and swallowing it down. It was honestly a little unsettling how he wasn't using his hands, but who was I to question how he ate? Just because I had the best table manners of STRQ didn't say much.

"Hey, I'm running out of material," I said with a grin.

To be honest, the sounds were kind of disgusting, the crunching of bones beneath his thick teeth, the tearing of flesh and the wet swallows… it was all pretty nasty.

But I was a _mom_. I'd dealt with a pair of kids in diapers, one with a temper and one with a penchant for cookies, and both with a talent for getting into trouble on their _own_ , let alone together. This was _nothing_. After the crack had appeared, Andoriol had gone out to catch and eat a Grimm, something that was supposed to jumpstart his regeneration. It was sweet that he apologized for it though, with how nasty it could be. He used his ab-legs to shield me from the Grimm blood splatters from his eating, even if they _would_ dissolve, presumably only if he didn't eat them.

"What about you? Any good jokes?" I asked, resting where I was… it was _weird_ to feel his stomach work behind me as it did, like… I could remember laying my head on Taiyang's stomach while he ate a few times, just because, and while it was similar… it was really different when the stomach wasn't something you laid your head on but instead a freaking _wall_ behind me.

Unfortunately, eating hadn't caused his face to heal. There was still that huge crack in his face/mask/thing.

 **"Most of my really good ones are 'yo mamma' jokes, which tend not to be popular with the ladies."** He said in bemusement after swallowing, **"So you'd probably love them."**

I snorted, covering my face before elbowing him in the gut, which was easy since his gut was _everything behind me_ , "Ass. Still, give it a shot."

It was easier to focus on things like jokes or the world rather than the worry that something or someone was hurting him and there was nothing we could do about it. We'd sort of agreed without saying anything to _not_ bring it up again unless something changed.

 **"Heh, seriously though, they're not all that funny. Like… hm… 'yo mamma so fat that she has to use the ocean as her bath-tub!'"** Okay, yeah, it was bad. I rolled my eyes, a small smile on my face even as Andy curled inward slightly to whisper, [3] **"What I'm trying to say is your momma's a whale… a _whale_ of a good time~ Yeah!"**

"If that's the best you've got, then yeah, don't even bother." I smiled even as I settled into my cloak.

 **"Most of them require some measure of cultural understanding to be funny."** He admitted with a small shrug before leaning back in to take another bite of the Ursa Major. He'd been nice enough to avoid eating too much while I was stuck with him, and he was unwilling to just leave me to go out and hunt. He needed to eat at least once every few days.

That made me a little sad, I didn't want to be the only one with the jokes! "Well, that makes sense… but nothing else?"

I patiently waited for him to finish tearing off another piece and swallow it down, **"Two peanuts walked down the road… one was assaulted?"**

"… yeah, you might want to avoid just telling jokes."

A little chuffing laughter as he leaned back in, **"I _did_ try to warn you."**

-?-

The metallic floor vibrated beneath my feet as the air rushed around the Bullhead, my weapon sitting across my lap as I inspected it.

My butt was lifted from the seat as turbulence made the bullhead jerk.

Lips pressing into a thin line, I tried to focus instead on my preparations.

Summer…

My heart ached, my chest cold and empty. She… I knew the odds. I knew them better than many, but… but I still held out hope. It's why I was here.

Hope.

Hope that the woman that I… that she was okay… _somehow_.

The locals had gone on and on about this enormous Grimm, heavily armored and unique. And that it had still been there after Summer had gone out…

I sighed, hoping beyond hope that this was just something weird happening… but I knew the hope was false. That I was sent on a confirmation mission, possibly a scouting attempt to determine the threat of this enormous Grimm… and to possibly avenge Summer. The handle of my weapon creaked under my hand before I caught myself, forcing it to ease up, staring at my reflection.

"We're coming in," the voice of the pilot crackled over the speaker, making my head rise up, as did the other two in the cargo area, "Be ready to drop."

"Yeah yeah…" I muttered, standing and holstering my weapon, my companions doing likewise, "Landing strategy and all…"

"Hey…" I paused, swaying reflexively as the Bullhead swung to a stop as the pilot's voice continued, "I… I knew Summer. Great gal… give'm hell for her."

My eyes widened for just a moment before I smirked, forcing down my melancholy and the ache in my heart, "Yeah, will do."

The bay door of the bullhead began to swing open and I swaggered forward with every bit of confidence that I didn't feel, "C'mon ladies–"

" _Qrow,_ we're both _dudes."_ But I continued as if they hadn't spoken.

"–we've got a hot chick to save."

* * *

[1] watch?v=1mjlM_RnsVE

[2] watch?v=OLHd4BQIiGw

[3] watch?v=XG8b7WhANNA&feature= &t=3m58s


	8. Grimm Beginnings 8

**A.N.)-** Please proceed with the normal screwing of the authorial notation.

* * *

"Is… this hers…?"

I looked over at the guy… kid really. Shoulder-length black hair, green overcoat, dark suit beneath it, pale skin. Couldn't have been more than twenty-three.

And what he held made something cold and terrible grip at my stomach. Something I recognized almost as well I did Murder, my own weapon.

Blooming Moon.

Swallowing down the disquiet rising in my throat with a practiced ease, I walked across the distance of the field to where the kid was kneeling beside the two broken bits of Summer's weapon. The sickles still attached to their chains, but the chains themselves ending abruptly. While one of the sickles was basically intact, if a little flatter than normal, the other was almost unrecognizably destroyed, and from the way the metal bent outwards it looked like it'd been partially crushed before the pressure had set off the Dust charges inside. _How_ it'd been destroyed was plenty obvious.

It was sitting at the center of the crater the Goliath had made when it'd fallen over. I hadn't fought many Goliaths, not many people had, but it's not an experience you forget easily. Even if the aftermath of a battle like that is something you tried to forget, they left a pretty distinct crater behind them.

A frown crossed my face as my eyes scanned the situation, forcing myself to be logical about this, to work backwards and figure out what had happened before we rushed off and did something stupid.

Blooming Moon was broken, somewhere in the crater the Goliath had made, so Summer's weapons had been caught by the falling Grimm… and there was a blood spatter where the two lengths of chains led… my stomach dropped out entirely.

An old stain at the edge of the small crater… and not a small one either.

"Sir…?" the kid prompted hesitantly, still kneeling beside the blown out half of Blooming Moon.

"Yeah," I said, taking an instant to swallow past the lump in my throat, "It's hers. Grab it and roll it up, we should return it to Tai…"

There must have been something in my tone, because the kid gave a shaky nod as he moved to comply, "Right."

I frown, looking at the blood stain, brownish black, fading, about a week old, maybe two now.

My eyes slowly traced the battlefield, the Goliath wasn't the Grimm that the people in town had talked about… so where was the evidence of it? Deep furrows in the dirt there… and there… trees smashed aside and _cut_ , not just smashed. A bit of a drag mark there of something smaller than the Goliath… ignoring who the hell would be _dragging_ a full grown Goliath…

There had been something big here, with claws… _really_ big claws.

But… it was hard to tell, but it seemed like the fight had gone… weird? It'd been crawling over the Goliath to attack Summer…? That'd match up with what the villagers had said, but… No… no that didn't look right. Summer didn't have the raw oomph to knock something that big around unless it was an absolute lightweight, so the Goliath had to have done it…

"Qrow!"

My head jerked up, looking at the other kid of the pair, the blond one, and I nearly snapped at him for interrupting me, but what he'd found was enough to snatch the words right out of my mouth.

Summer's leg.

I knew, even from here, even with it torn at by scavengers, even without getting closer… I knew it was hers, I recognized what little remained of the boot and the stocking… it… it was Summer's leg.

An empty, terrible ache settled in my chest… like someone had just… scooped all of me out and poured in this cold, dead sludge…

For just an instant, I **snarled** , anger and fire and fury bubbling up inside of me. No… _no… **no!**_ Not… not her…

My teeth ground together as I looked down at the ground, desperately trying to rein in my anger. Not her…

Anger… the anger's useful. Angry people get shit done, sad people just sit around being sad. And oh, I was _mad_. The Grimm had taken her from me, from Tai, from her kids… and we were gonna get them…

… we…

… fuck.

I sighed, rubbing my face with a hand as I tried to rein myself in and reorganize my thoughts.

These were seniors from Beacon, a set of partners. They weren't pushovers, but if this thing could handle _Summer_ … I had _no_ desire to throw them against it.

But we still had a mission, scouting, and we needed to figure out what this thing was, where it was holed up, why it was just hovering around the town… so many questions, and we were the ones that needed to find at least a few of the answers.

"Sir…?" The kid's voice was gentle, but as much as I wish otherwise, the prompting was necessary.

"Yeah, I see it." I restrained a sigh, "Take it, we're gonna put it with Blooming Moon back at the village, but be ready to head out, we're gonna try and track this thing down, but we're avoiding engaging it. Something that can beat up Summer is out of your league."

But if I got the chance…

My hand traced along the handle of Murder, the burning fire in my chest tightening even as the kids got to work.

If I got the chance, I'd use Murder to pry the Grimm open like a can of sardines.

-oOo-

Quietly, I shivered, my skin clammy and hot and flush all at once, my light coating of fur and down soaking wet.

[1] "La… la la… la la la… I… I'm wearing black space paannnnnNNnNnNnnnts… fffFFFffFFfuuuck…" My teeth nearly chattered as I held myself tightly beneath the blanket, the world a mess of colors. Fucking bees. Fucking wasps. Fucking… _things_ … asshole pieces of shit…

Apparently… apparently being an abomination didn't mean I couldn't get poisoned… though… raw meat didn't bother me anymore…

My lips practically vibrated, as I cried, clinging to the bony protrusions on my arms… fuck… fuck… hope I burned through this quick… only two stings… only two stings…

"I'm thththe dark lLllLLlLlord and… and I'll… ffFfffFFfuuuck can't even sssSSssSSsing… assholes…"

I'd tried to get the poison from the stingers out but… only moderately successful. The giant wasp things were tough… had to go melee with them, my spear actually couldn't pierce their exoskeletons… had to use my inhuman strength to bludgeon them to death.

Problem is, that brought their nasty stinging and biting bits into… stinging and biting range.

… I'm exhausted and shivering and on an acid trip right now, give me a bit of a break when it comes to humor.

… was it just me or did I have more bone going on here…? And not the fun kind either-!

… that'd be funnier if there was a chick here to roll her eyes about the horrific innuendo.

Hunger… hunger really sucked… pushed me into attacking these things when I probably shouldn't have… taking fights that purple elephant dancing along the…

… the…

Uggghhhh… I didn't feel good…

I leaned over and my stomach heaved.

Find water in the morning… uuuggghhhh…

… yep, there goes the dry heaves…

"Urp… black space pants."

-oOo-

"So... a kid finds some robots, is sent on an epic quest to save a princess, meets a scoundrel, meets the villain, saves the girl, sees his mentor die, then has to help destroy a terrible weapon using mystic mumbo jumbo...?"

 **"And it's all iiinnnn spaaaaaaace~"**

I snorted in amusement, shaking my head, "The way you talk, it's really good?"

 **"It's just implemented well, a good structuring of the monomyth in a science-fantasy stetting."** I snuggled into the bear hide and my cloak as Andy crawled up the rocky outcropping not far from the cavern we were staying in, listening in as the big guy went all 'smart story mode' on me, **"I could tell more, but you'd have to give me some time to scratch out the plot structure to make sure I've got myself straight and not missing anything important."**

"I actually thinks that sounds pretty neat, it'd be something to do at the very least."

He chuckled slightly before cutting himself off quite suddenly.

The sudden change worried me, and I sat up a bit straighter as some tension bled into my limbs. "What is it?" I asked, looking up from my place, still surprisingly comfortable resting in the hold of Andoriol's ab-legs. I followed his green gaze out into forest, brushing my hair out of my face as I peered through the trees and... saw some black and white blobs a fair distance away.

Grimm.

 **"Hrrrmmm…"** The massive knight narrowed his eyes, perched atop an outcropping, **"I don't know the name of them… but I know them… they're shaped like wasps and covered in bone armor."**

A small frown crossed my face, "Beelzebubs, how many?"

 **"Huh, not particularly descriptive, I just know them as 'assholes',"** I snorted at that, my frown briefly becoming a smile, **"But quite a few… they're… hng… looks to be a few dozen."**

Now _that_ made me pause, "A few _dozen_?"

 **"Over fifty, less than a hundred…"** He rumbled quietly, shifting slightly, his enormous eyes refocusing slightly as he peered through the forest, **"Looks to be about seventy at first guess."**

"… shit." A cold dread had settled in my chest, "That's… how big are they?"

 **"Not full grown."** A sigh of relief escaped me, the tension in my chest easing. A full grown Beelzebub's were nearly the size of an adult, capable of firing poisoned stingers at velocities comparable to most Dust rounds at a rate comparable to a bolt action rifle. Absurdly agile and impossibly tough for something of their size, they were a terror in groups. Thankfully, they normally only stayed around in clusters of a dozen, to contrast the enormous packs of Beowulf's that could gather. But… _seventy_ of them…? That was something for at _least_ a full team of seasoned Hunters, ideally three with armor piercing ranged options, maybe one with an area of effect Semblance or Dust, and a high speed melee combatant to cover them– **"They're only a bit bigger than a person… but that's still dangerous to the town…"**

I started to agree with him before his statement caught up to me, "… wait… how big again?"

His head glanced down at me as my hands clutched tightly at the legs holding me, **"… a little bigger than a man? As best I can tell from this distance that is."**

" _Shit_ , definitely need to take them out then…" I said, knowing for certain the town couldn't handle that kind of force. I frowned before looking up at him, "… how big have you seen them get?"

Andoriol gave a small shrug, **"A bit smaller than one of my legs right now."**

That… that was _terrifying_ … considering his size that was bigger than a full grown _Deathstalker_. The things out there in the Grimm Lands truly were monsters if things like that were out there… "R-Right…" I briefly cursed my stutter, but to be fair, I'd just been told one of the more dangerous small Grimm could become very, very big. But I was a _leader_ dangit, and one for a reason, "Crap… okay, we _need_ to get rid of these, that's more than the town could handle… heck that's almost half the population of the town… unless they have a full team of Hunters on standby they couldn't stop them."

The knight gave a nod before looking down at me meaningfully and simply saying, **"I can't take you with me though."**

A pout wormed its way onto my face, even if I could, intellectually, understand, "Your legs won't protect me enough?"

He shook his head, **"Not enough so that I'd feel safe taking you into combat with that many of them."**

Ugh. There was a hint of a queasiness in my stomach at the thought. I leaned back against his downy stomach and wrapped my arms around myself, "I… just don't take long, okay?" As much as I didn't want to admit it, I was still completely reliant on Andy for my own protection. Even without my Aura, if I'd had Blooming Moon I'd have been able to defend myself, but Blooming Moon was destroyed.

 **"I understand, don't worry, I'll keep you in hearing range."** His clawed hand came before his ab-legs and I obligingly reached out to grab his 'index' finger as the legs unfolded to let me go. With a little sound, I heaved my stumps up and onto his bottom finger, the 'pinky', though it was hard to call it that when he only had three fingers and a thumb. It was a bit unsettling sitting on the bone-claw finger of a giant like this in a skirt, but I couldn't really afford modesty in this situation.

Gently, he lifted me and set me on one of the higher branches of one of the nearby trees. His hand hovered nearby just in case as I got settled before he brought up the bear hide he'd been using to cushion me and draped it over me for camouflage, **"Something comes your way, just shout."**

"… this is hearing range?"

 **"For a shout, yes."**

"You have better ears than I do then." I admitted, gauging the distance, it was almost out of visual range for me, the Beelzebubs little more than white and black blobs through the trees.

 **"Don't think I technically _have_ ears honestly…"** he said, only crouched _slightly_ to look me in the eye… hoo boy I was high up then. His head tilted slightly as he looked away in thought, **"Pretty sure I'm hearing through sensing vibrations through my horns or something. Same way I don't have a nose."**

My silver eyes traced the aforementioned horns. The started just above his forehead before sweeping back across the top of his head and out behind him, hugging his head, thicker at the base than his eyes and segmented like a rams, they quickly tapered to a point after leaving his head.

And they were apparently his ears.

After a moment to process that, I had to shake my head, "… that has got to be _super_ weird."

 **"Oh, you have _no_ idea," **he said in amusement, his eyes glittering, **"Much more efficient, but _weird_."**

There was a moment of silence as I struggled to think of something to say, mostly because I didn't really want to have my only line of defense go somewhere else… but… well… I had nothing. The knight gave a little nod, slinking back down into a crouch and crawling on all fours towards the Beelzebubs.

And that's when it hit me.

"So…" the inhuman abomination that was Andoriol paused at my words, "You'd have to say that audio erotica gets you _horny_?"

 **"… snrk–! Tssschhhhhaahahahaha! That… that's _horrible_!"**

-oOo-

"That's…"

Quietly, I covered the kid's mouth as we crouched in the bushes near the _nest_ of Beelzebubs.

This wasn't good, but I was glad we'd stumbled across this. Full grown Beelzebubs were terrifying in any serious numbers, Murder could cut through them in Scythe mode, but doing any meaningful damage to them without my Semblance could be pretty hard otherwise. The fucking assholes.

The steady, droning hum of the Grimm was almost oppressive. The big wasp-like creatures with short swords for legs and another for a stinger were crawling all over the black nest they'd made. Entering and exiting the little holes at the base of the cone freely not even a full fifty feet away from where the three of us were crouched in a bush.

But this? This was a job for a full team of Huntsmen, not one and two almost-theres. Even ignoring the enormous Grimm that had taken out Summer, this was bad. No way in hell I was dragging these kids into a fight like this, no matter _how_ 'top of their class' they were. Hell, _I_ wouldn't want a fight like this. Pretty sure that Summer would have hesitated dragging our full team into a fight like this in _our_ Senior year without better reason. Even with my greater experience, this was more than I'd like. Ten? Maybe twenty? Sure, I'd consider that doable. But this had to be… mm… mhm… carry the two– _a whole fucking lot of them_. More than I wanted to subject these kids to at any rate.

Silently, I reached out and touched the shoulders of the kids, getting their attentions before jerking my head back over my shoulder, indicating the direction of the village.

I got a little shaky nod from each of them, they understood.

They weren't attacking, but they were definitely too close to the town. We needed to get back and call in for reinforcements–

– _oh that's not a good feeling._

My eyes widened as my hand snapped to the hilt of Murder, _feeling_ something coming in at–!

 _Way too fast!_

The world shook and Murder was drawn as I found myself introduced to the Grimm Aberrant that the town had been talking about mid stomp.

 _Shit_. Murder was held out before me for half a second before I grabbed the blond by the scruff of his neck and knocked the brown-haired one back, further into the bushes as I backed off.

The enormous, almost knight-like Grimm paid no attention to us as its tail lashed out in a blur, claws sweeping about and… attacking the Beelzebubs…? Pulling the two kids down, I hid us as the enormous Grimm just tore its way into the nest of its smaller brethren. The ground actually trembled beneath our feet when the Aberrant slammed a claw down to crush one of the Beelzebubs before swatting another out of the air, the golden tip of its tail sweeping up to its mouth to… deposit a Grimm into its mouth that it messily chewed as it continued its decimation.

It had practically rocketed into the clearing, deliberately landing atop the nest of the insectoid Grimm and crushing who knows how many with its entrance.

Grimm fighting Grimm…? What was going on? The Beelzebubs were fighting back, it wasn't just some slaughter… but despite the minor injuries they were inflicting, it was little better than kittens attacking a fully armored knight. But… why?

I scowled even as I motioned for the kids to get into a crouch beside me, the two of them with their weapons ready, a set of bayonetted pistols and a spear-thing… but we were _not_ getting into this fight. That tail was _insane_ , I didn't know Grimm could _be_ that fast, and I didn't want to get anywhere near it. But if this thing was even as tough as a Deathstalker with all that armor, and not, as it likely was, much, _much_ tougher… it could have steamrolled the entire town on its own. So… what was it doing…?

The Beelzebubs started to scatter, but the Aberrant threw out its arms… that were actually enormous wings because damn it of course it could fly too. A single flap of its wings released hurricane force winds that knocked the smaller Grimm out of the air and nearly unveiled us, if we hadn't been behind it right now it probably could've seen the three of us hiding.

A clawed leg lashed out to snatch one of the Beelzebubs out of the air, crushing it in a small explosion of blood even as it moved about, slaughtering the smaller Grimm. But… _why?_ Everything the Grimm did was built around the slaughter and destruction of humanity, so how did slaughtering its own kind help with that…?

One of the smaller Grimm dove for the Aberrant's face and was snatched out of the air by its _teeth_ , biting down on it and chewing noisily as it… hummed…? A low, ominous tune that I had to admit, sent little shivers up my spine.

What was its plan?

This thing was definitely strong enough to slaughter the town on its own, I didn't know if they could even _hurt_ it, let alone stop it before it steamrolled the town… so why keep staying around it…? Normally, I'd have thought that a big, intelligent Grimm would only hover around a town to foster bad feelings and gather more Grimm to ensure its victory with a mass of Grimm… but this thing could have done that entirely on its own… heck, the Beelzebubs could have done it on their own! So why was it slaughtering them like this? Any of these would have been sufficient for this town…

… _this_ town.

My eyes widened slowly as it finally clicked and I just nearly cussed out loud as I shoved Murder back into its place at the small of my back before grabbing the kids by the sleeves of their jackets. With a quick tug before turning, I got them to start creeping back towards the village at best speed while still being stealthy. And kudos to the kids, they didn't mess it up, picking up on what I was doing quickly.

Fucking smart aberrant Grimm and their fucking absurd intelligence and clever, terrible tactics! Fuck… _Fuck_ … **_Fuck!_**

This was the sort of shit where Taiyang would've said we needed to be back at the town _yesterday_.

… _fuck_! I was _not_ drunk enough for this!

* * *

[1] watch?v=ExAt1pQ9IwE


	9. Grimm Beginnings 9

**A.N.)** \- Continue fornication with authors notes.

* * *

I chewed noisily, slowly tilting my head first one way, then the other, listening for the buzzing hum of the ass–… the _Beelzebubs._ Hmmm…

There was the soft rustling of the leaves, the motion of them against one another in the air around me, of branches creaking and groaning in the wind… but not the scuttling of legs or buzzing of wings. It seems that I'd taken them out, the sounds of the world around me… clear. Not so much silence as the normal sounds of the forest.

Swallowing the crunchy mess of... _Grimm_ meat, I let my tongue flick out to taste the air.

Hrm, frustrating, I could only taste Grimm blood. My eyes scanned my surroundings and the slowly evaporating red mass of blood and guts of the Beelzebubs. I didn't _see_ anything, but I'd _thought_ I'd heard someone speaking on my approach. There weren't any obvious lingering traces of heat on the ground or trees, and the blood and bits of Grimm likely overwhelmed anything that might have been there… Well, when my sense of taste/smell cleared up I'd be able to sniff them ou–

"Andy!

My head snapped up and my eyes rapidly refocused. Summer?!

The world outside of the point of focus, the source of the vibration, it all fell away as I locked onto the distant, white-cloaked young woman covered in a bear pelt.

And the warm, horrible ball of hatred at the base of the tree she was in.

Claws dug into the loamy soil for traction before I nearly exploded from the ground, dodging around the trees as I rushed back up the slope to the outcropping. Damnit! Damnit damnit damnit! The black shape was approaching the tree she was on. What is it with the Grimm here?! The concentrations of them just keep going up! I moved at my absolute best speed, stealth abandoned as I snaked around the large trees, tail whipping behind me for balance as I cursed my inability to go to all fours in these tight corners for maximum speed.

I was _not_ letting something hurt her damnit! Her safety came before those of some nebulous maybe-there person(s)!

The trees flashed about me as I surged forwards until I hit the tree-line by the outcropping and _bounded_ up it in a single leap, clods of dirt flying as my talons ripped from the ground. For just a moment, I hung in the air on my way up to the top of the outcropping and the tree that Summer was perched atop of, the world appearing to pause as my brain processed things–

The hollow– Grimm. Ursa. Lots of spikes on its back as well. Big one, an 'Ursa Major' it seems. Base of the tree that Summer was in. It was looking at me, no damage to the tree, it was turning–

Conclusion was reached: Non-threat.

Wings flared out slightly for inertia as my tail flashed forward and down, piercing straight through the creature's skull and my feet touched the top of the outcropping.

The ursa dropped, its body starting to cool as it began to rapidly sublimate. My tongue flicked out, still only tasting Grimm blood, but I heard nothing moving other than the trees and my own joints and Summer's breathing… after an instant's hesitation I began to relax, sighing slowly. I pulled my tail back, giving it a small snap to flick off any remaining blood and folded my wings, ruffling them slightly as the pressed against the length of my arms, my eyes focusing on Summer's own silver ones, **"Rose?"**

"That's me," she said with an adorable smile, but I could see the slight tension of her hands, her knuckles were white, there was a slight tick in her right cheek, almost invisible. And in my gut I can feel that hint of tension that so often rose around her... but it was an _easing_ tension. If I could have smiled back at her, I would have.

 **"Hang out around here often?"** I asked as I straightened out, standing at nearly my full height, something that I rarely did to avoid drawing too much attention.

It was... _weird_ being taller than the trees, even now.

She giggled quietly before becoming more serious, "I'm guessing the nest was destroyed?"

 **"Bugs be squished, yes."** I said simply, extending one of my hands towards her, close but not simply picking her up. It should be her choice to get into my hand, not mine to just lift her out of the tree. She was an adult, not a child, and a person, not a doll.

The young woman reached out, smiling a bit more honestly now as she took a hold of my upper finger and I allowed her to pull my hand close enough to gently wrap around her. Lifting her from the branch, I brought her towards my stomach, carefully opening up my thorax legs to settle her back in place, and the legless woman did her best to assist my efforts.

"Good to hear, the town couldn't have handled that sort of nest. I didn't interrupt?"

 **"Not really,"** I admitted, carefully and delicately tucking Summer into place against my stomach, thorax legs closing around her carefully, safely ensconcing her in the bone plating of my body, **"Mostly cleaning up myself afterwards."**

"Good... good." There was a slight sigh of relief from her even as I went back into a crouch, feeling her hand grip tightly in the soft feathers that covered my stomach. "… could... could you tell me more about that story you mentioned before? The Space Wars one?"

For a moment, I considered heading back to check up on those people I thought I'd heard... but a quick glance back showed me that I couldn't see anything moving in that direction. No heat… the Grimm blood on my tongue had finally been swallowed down though…

"… Andy...?"

Her soft voice startled me out of my visual search and I turned away from that section of forest, **"Ah... sure, and it was 'Star Wars', not 'Space Wars'. Pedantic, I know, but I was a fan."**

-oOo-

Quietly, I walked through the forest, ears twitching back and forth and desperately searching for sounds that shouldn't be there, "Weee… are the champions… my friieeend…" [1]

My fingers fumbled slightly as I kept trying to twirl the spear. The good ole one handed staff twirl! Actually pretty hard. Still hadn't gotten it down and I'd been at this for… hell, a month now? Been here for… six months maybe? "And weee'lll keep on fighting… till the end…"

 _Always_ thought this was cool, but the problem was that I'd never had the time, space, or opportunity to really practice enough to really do it–

The straight stick went hurtling out of my hand, a little misplacement of my fingers and far too much strength having come together in a glorious marriage of fuck and you. "We are the champions," I muttered sarcastically as I rolled my eyes, moving to pick up the spear.

Now? Now I had basically nothing _but_ time, "No time for losers 'cause we are the champions… of the woooorrrrrrllllld~"

… alright, that was a bit of an exaggeration, I spent a lot of my time just searching for vegetables and food. And a lot of my time at 'home' was spent twisting plant threads into rope or attempting to make new clothes or spears or hatchets or leather bindings. But when I was out and about? Twirling practice! All those fancy little tricks and flourishes with weapons or knives or staves that were pointless but looked super cool.

"I've taken my bows… my curtain calls…" Obviously still struggling to get the whole twirling bit down with the spears, but I'd gotten the knife down pat! Progress! "You… um… shit, what was it…"

Also, I'd kept that going for a whole fourteen seconds longer this time! Ignore the time I just started to twirl it and it went flying within four seconds, that was an outlier dangit!

"… ah! You brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it! I thank you all~" The soft fur that coated my body was slowly being replaced by fuzzy downy feathers, almost like those you'd find on a fuzzy little baby bird, "It's been no bed of roses~" There was a light layer of main feathers growing over top of them, and those were waterproof thankfully. Soaking wet fur or down was _not_ pleasant. I really hoped I kept growing the feathers, I liked them better. "No… pleasure cruise~"

"CAKAW!" The trees above me suddenly exploded into splinters as the enormous bird-hollow broke through the canopy of the trees above me.

My hand snapped up, pointing dramatically at the creature as I _grinned_ at it fiercely, "I consider it a challenge to the entire human race, and _I never looooooose!"_

Finally! I was _waiting_ for this fuck to finally pounce! "Weeeee are the champions, my friend~"

I continued to sing, waiting for it to approach, because I had the advantageous position against the airborne beast, and if it wanted me, it could come and get me– _holy shit it can throw its feathers!_

"And we'll keep on fighting! Till the eeeennnnnd!" My voice cracked halfway through that as I dove to the side, avoiding the feathers nearly as large as my spear! "We are the champions bitch!"

Rolling up to a knee, I threw my spear as hard as I could, the stone-tipped shaft slamming into the main mass of the bird and burying itself nearly a foot into its flesh. It wasn't much for a creature of that size, but I had four more where that'd come from!

"Have at thee!"

"We are the champions…" I wonder… if I eat more of the bird-styled creatures, would I get more feathers…? I mean, I'd been getting them at a reasonably constant rate otherwise… hrm… maybe it was time to go hunting…? "No time for losers 'cause we are the champions…"

-oOo-

With a little grunt, I pulled myself up, my chin barely clearing the top of the bone covering on Andy's tail.

 **"Hnn hnhnhnnnn... h-h-hhnn hnnnnn..." [2]** The giant continued to hum above me as I exercised.

"You... can be a real pain," I grunted out as I lowered myself again, Andoriol stoking the fire with his claws, tending to the rabbits over it, "You know that right?"

 **"Sixty Eight."** He said, amusement in his tone, **"Come on, you can make it to seventy five, you know you can."**

"Mmph, I'm still recovering!" I snapped, my legs kicking out slightly.

 **"Oh come on, I thought you were a big bad Huntress and not a little schoolgirl."** He teased, and damn him for his obvious manipulation but it fucking worked, I growled at him and pulled myself up again, sweat beading on my forehead, **"Sixty nine? How lewd."**

A little sound of aggravation escaped me at that as he returned to humming that tune. He was like an infuriating mix of Qrow and Taiyang with a bit more concern but even more of a pain in my ass!

My arms burned as I made another pull up, refusing to stop on something like that so he'd tease me about it!

It'd been a bit over two and a half weeks since my injury, and my Aura was _still_ refusing to return... at this point, as much as I didn't want to admit it, my Aura was basically gone. As my strength had returned, I'd done my best to get myself active and in shape again, sit ups, push ups, pull ups... a lot of ups really.

Andy did what he could to help, but I could tell he didn't really fully understand what it was like for me to not have my Aura anymore. He _sort of_ understood what with the 'I lost my humanity' thing, but it was different.

Grunting with the exertion, I did another pull up, lifting my chin up over the bone plating of his tail.

By this point, they'd probably have sent out a small team to scout things out, determine what had happened to me. A cursory check probably, maybe more given that there was supposed to be a scary Grimm in the area. With that in mind, I hoped that by the end of this week I'd be strong enough to feel safe going near the town safely hidden in Andy's clutches and try to convince them to talk, or at very least get them to let me back in. I hated the thought, but Andy was right, he'd survived on his own for years out here, a few more months wasn't that big of a deal if it meant that I'd have time to have people _talk_ to him.

My arms trembled as they refused to lift me up another time, **"Seventy two, solid."**

Despite my wishes otherwise, the giant lowered his tail, setting me down on the floor of the cavern. Though I scowled up at him, my arms dropped to my sides like limp noodles, my chest heaving.

Ugh, I was out of shape.

I had to fix that.

Aside from his quiet humming of the Grimm knight, the crackling of the fire and my own heaving pants, the cavern was silent. My eyes traced over the meat and my stomach rumbled quietly as he used his large claws to take a pinch of some sort of herbs and sprinkle them atop the rabbits over the fire.

He didn't _need_ to eat all that often really, apparently Grimm were high energy content and all that, but he'd learned quite a bit about cooking in his time out in the wilds. A fair number of our forays out were for food for me, vegetables he'd identified or more 'normal' animals.

Let me tell you, you have _not_ seen restraint until you've seen a creature whose _hand_ was bigger than me kill a rabbit without destroying its body utterly.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a good way to make soup, and while I could bake a mean cookie, cooking while out in the wilds was always more Qrow or Raven's thing than mine. Andy was pretty good though for having freaking longswords for fingers, but his grilled veggies were... ah... subpar.

I mean, I know I needed to eat them and all, but I felt like Ruby or Yang when it came time for dinner. I got all pouty when he brought out the veggies, much to his amusement.

He softly prodded the meat with the blunt back of his claw before nodding and pulling them from the fire. I accepted the cooler end of the stick with a small smile, as well as the waterskin. His hands were too big to work the tie that kept it closed, but once I was strong enough I'd been able to fill it for myself, after boiling the water at his insistence.

Normally, I'd have argued that my Aura would take care of any diseases in the water, but now… with the way things were…

I chewed my lip before untying the waterskin and drinking down some of the refreshing liquid.

I didn't have my Aura… for _whatever_ reason… but… I had to keep going. My little girls… I had to get back to my little girls and Taiyang and Qrow and everyone else. No matter what–

 **"Rose…?"**

My head jerked up to find Andoriol's softly glowing eyes focused on me in concern, and I realized belatedly that I'd been staring at the waterskin uselessly for who knows how long, "Ah… sorry… I just… I miss home. Not that it's bad here!" I hastened to add, "You're great company and everything but–"

The warm back of his enormous index claw gently brushed against my cheek, and there was a tenderness to those green eyes, the purple scleras glowing softly as well, **"I'm not home. Don't worry, I understand."** I leaned slightly into his touch, smiling up at him gratefully for his acceptance even as he quietly said, **"Three more days. Then we'll try and get you to the town. Promise."**

"Yeah…" I said weakly before saying it again, stronger, " _Yeah._ You're right." I laughed softly at my own melancholy. We'd get it done, if not then, then the next time. We weren't going to give up. I softly patted his claw, "Thanks big guy."

 **"It's no problem Rose,"** he said gently, brushing my hair behind my ear with a claw nearly as long as I was tall, making me smile up at him warmly. Emerald eyes softened at my smile, and the bone claw hesitated before withdrawing, the big softie likely wondering if my crybaby self would need more comfort.

I wouldn't, I was a _Huntress_ damnit. But it was a nice thought.

A chill wind blew in through the entrance to the cavern and I snuggled deeper into the blanket of bear hide and my cloak. The enormous knight shifted slightly to block it further, his tail coming about to prod the fire.

I'd get home. I'd get back to my family, I would _not_ give up.

Smiling, I took a bite out of the rabbit… and yes, he was definitely better at cooking meat than his veggies.

-oOo-

"Mister Branwen?"

"Shit kid," I grumbled, cleaning out an ear with a pinky, "What have I said about calling me that?"

"Not to?" Yin said with a small but definitely shit eating grin. I liked the kid. He looked like a paler and 'prettier' version of Taiyang with his hair slicked back perfectly.

I leaned my shoulder back against the edge of the thick palisade wall overlooking the clearing outside the town, "Whad'ya want?"

I'd been on watch on the wall, the town a walled off little village up against a large river. Enormous tree trunks had been stabbed into the ground, each one almost ten feet thick, a pillar of wood with plaster and various other things sealing up the tiny gaps between the enormous trees. Large guns were set up atop each of the four towers along the semicircle of wood. Each of those guns could put almost a round per second down range, each one a full twenty five millimeter slug of steel or lead.

And apparently they did little more than tickle the large Aberrant.

"How much longer do we have to wait?" He stood out, all these gold and silver, and whites and blacks. His jacket was this really nice white leather thing, and his pants were probably some white silk, both with brilliantly golden embroidery. A tight black undershirt with some silver to it concealed at least a half dozen clips of ammo for the four large pistols he had on the belts at his waist. He glanced over his shoulder at the town inside the walls before softly saying, "Staying this long is starting to unsettle the townspeople."

A frown danced across my face briefly before I looked out at the forest, "Two days. It takes time for everything to get moved."

The kid stepped up to the edge of the wall, the tops of the trunks sharpened into vague points, "I know but… shouldn't we be out there? Making it look more like we're doing something instead of just standing around town and making things more tense?"

The kid was the leader of his own team, like Summer is… _was_ … was for mine. He was actually a bit taller than I was, and while I called him a kid, he was pushing adulthood like his partner at twenty one. With a solid Semblance, good guns, and Dust embroidered into his outfit, he was honestly pretty good, better than some experienced Hunters. Hell, his team was almost the STRQ of their generation.

I gave a small shake of my head, a small sigh escaping me, "No, we'd probably die out there, and we can't help anybody if we're dead."

But that didn't mean they were as good as we were, let alone how good we were now. And while I might feel reasonably confident about all of STRQ taking the Aberrant down as a team… just me and these two? Not an Atlas kid's chance at a poetry contest.

A small frown crossed Yin's face, "We could run if we run into the Aberrant, and if it's doing what you said it probably won't attack until it's got more forces."

"Kid, that thing vaporized the biggest nest of Beelzebubs I've ever seen with my own eyes because it wasn't enough." I made a point of locking gazes with the younger guy, my own red eyes matching the kid's golden ones as I tried to impress on him the risks, "What else is out there in this tide of Grimm it's building up? If we stir up something like that nest of Beelzebub's, even if it's on accident, I don't think they're gonna restrain themselves from overrunning the town like the Aberrant _might_. Who knows, that thing might see us Hunters and decide to make its move early."

With a small shake of my head, I looked back out at the tree line, nearly a hundred meters out. A killing field around the town, one I hoped would be enough, "It's not worth the risk. We need to sit tight till we have enough firepower here to at least _stall_ that Aberrant and whatever horde it's been building."

Yin made a face like he'd sucked on a lemon, silent for a long moment before sagging slightly, leaning into the wall, "I just don't like sitting around here and doing nothing." Before I could speak though the kid looked at me, "There's only so many times you can 'raise morale' before you're out of morale yourself."

I smirked just a bit, "Get drunk? It always helps me."

"Don't drink," the kid said with a small shake of his head, but a smile briefly crossed his lips.

Reaching out, I placed a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, three days and we're going out there. Enjoy the time off. We're not gonna have any when the reinforcements arrive."

"Time off? What is this 'time off'?" The kid snarked with a smile.

I rolled my eyes, "Something you probably need."

A somewhat more somber smile crossed his face as he looked out at the tree line, "Haven't taken time off in a long time, and I haven't failed yet... don't plan to start when there's this much on the line."

"Well, I'm buying you a drink when we get back from this."

"What part of 'I don't drink' was hard?"

"Probably the same part of 'Don't call me Mister Branwen'."

"... touche."

* * *

[1] watch?v=04854XqcfCY

[2] watch?v=9jK-NcRmVcw


	10. Grimm Beginnings 10

**A.N.)-** Please continue with previously scheduled screwing of Authors Notes.

* * *

A set of enormous claws fussed over me with a tenderness that didn't suit them, but it was something that I'd become accustomed to over the past few weeks, "Andy."

 **"I don't have anything tougher than the bear hides, but a few layers of them should be sufficient to deflect anything serious."**

"Andoriol."

Said layered pelt of bear hide was being draped across my shoulders like a cloak, making me roll my eyes.

 **"And to be sure, you're definitely keeping my old knife, to make sure nothing happens or that you can do _something_ if bad things happen."**

I rolled my eyes, the little sack in my lap containing the knife as well as the waterskin and a few hunks of meat wrapped up and dried, as well as a few little wood carvings gathered from his travel carry-on. The knight had been fussing over me for the past _thirty minutes_.

 **"So, I was going to try and approach within visual range with you high and waving before approaching closer with you protected by my wings and thorax-legs to avoid stray bullets, if we can get close enough we can try having you shout to them–"**

"Andoriol Marrow!"

 _*Crck*_

He half jerked back at my tone as I frowned up at him, "Stop _fussing_ like a mother hen! That's _my_ job. It's okay. We'll take it slow and try to get to the village. If that doesn't work we'll try again or try something different. No plan survives contact with the enemy and all that."

His hands hung in the air for a moment before dropping with a sigh, his cracked mask tilting downwards as well, **"I know… I'm just worried."**

"We'll be fine." I said with a smile that had more confidence in it than I felt, tugging the bear-coat a bit tighter around myself, "We'll make sure of it."

I was worried too, don't get me wrong. But I was a trained Huntress, and we were going to blow these people's minds! It was going to be awesome! It was worth the risks.

The giant sighed, hanging his head for a long moment before breathing in deep and opening his glowing green eyes, **"Alright. I'm not looking forward to this, but alright."** His enormous hands reached out and I raised my arms to allow him to pick me up, letting myself be raised up and settled into the grasp of his abs-legs. **"If I make the decision to run though, I don't want to hear any complaints."**

"Didn't take you for a scaredy cat Andy," I said with a teasing grin.

 **"To be fair, it's not _my_ life I'm worried about, it's yours." **A claw came to gently brush against my face as his ab-legs shielded me, and I rolled my eyes at the big softy began to crawl his way out of the cavern.

"I'll be fine big guy, I've got _you_ protecting me."

He let out a chuffing laugh, **"Excuse me for not having your confidence Rose. You're... too precious to me to risk casually."**

"But this _isn't_ casually," I reminded him gently, we'd been planning to do this for almost three weeks now.

 **"I know,"** he said with a soft melancholy, **"But that doesn't make it easier."**

The sadness and worry in his voice made me pause to think. To try and put myself in his shoes... I thought about what it might be like if I had to send Yang or Ruby out to be Hunters, or really just strapping them to my back and going out to fight Grimm… and nearly shuddered at the thought. It was a terribly queasy and unpleasant feeling… the thought of bringing them along and deliberately putting them into danger… it scared the hell out of me and it was just a hypothetical!

Okay, _now_ it made a bit more sense why Andy was hesitating.

"Don't worry big guy," I said softly, gently patting his stomach that I rested against, "I'll stay safe."

Even if he didn't have the lips for it anymore, I could hear the fond smile in his deep voice, **"I'll hold you to that."**

-oOo-

I was one of the best.

Others disagreed, of course, but you couldn't fault my record.

Question my attitude, maybe.

…

Okay, _definitely_ question my attitude, because a lot of people did. Summer didn… _hadn't_. But a lot of people gave me crap about my attitude.

But nobody could question my results.

STRQ had been the best of our generation, not just our year, our _generation_.

But I still felt quite a bit of relief seeing that Bullhead swinging in, rotors turning as it shifted to hover above Blue Bell's drop-zone near the river.

The negativity around here was infectious, these people were afraid, paranoid, worried, and generally antsy about… everything. Even with me and the two kids heading out to wipe out the little Grimm that dared wander close to the town, they didn't feel safe, there were no shouts of joy or laughter in the streets. Just this somber worry.

What a pain.

"Oi, Qrow! There you are ya drunkard!"

I snorted and crossed my arms across my chest loosely; I shouted up at the young woman half hanging out of the Bullhead, "I don't drink that much!"

We grinned at one another as the redhead was lowered to the ground, the two teams in the Bullhead with her having their various reactions to our idiocy.

I didn't know all of them, sure, I knew some of them; Steel was familiar to me, what with an outfit basically made of heavy chain links, but I didn't know all of them. But I didn't need to know all of them, Caldy did though. And knowing her, she knew their favorite colors and whether the left ball hung lower or the right. But all **I** needed to know was that they all were focused on one of two tasks.

The Bullhead finally lowered enough that its eight passengers were able to comfortably jump out to the ground, the red-headed leader grinning as she did, "Yeah yeah, only a keg a day, not _that_ much."

Restraint and containment, like Steel. Or armor penetration, like Caldera.

"Well, I still get out of bed earlier than you do," I smirked, jerking a thumb over my shoulder at where the Atlas boys were setting up a particularly big set of guns in place of two of Blue Bell's own, "Cause the Atlas chuckleheads got here before you did."

"I had to do my makeup," the woman said airily, primly gesturing at her face and the burn scar that covered the right side of it, "Gotta look good when you're slaughtering Grimm and all."

My grin widened, "Uhhhh huh. Right."

Translation? The crazy chick was determined to wear Dust based make-up and had to be careful applying it.

Dust based make-up. Fuck me. I never could get over that.

Steel quietly asked, "What's the situation?"

But before I could do more than open my mouth, Ironwood's toady spoke, "An unusual Aberrant has set up shop within twenty miles of Blue Bell. It's strong, fast, tough, and has been gathering an unknown number of powerful Grimm to the city for unknown reasons. The people are scared and anxious, a decisive victory is required to ensure that our efforts do not simply leave them wallowing in negativity and thus, die due to the overwhelming numbers of Grimm around us."

I turned to raise an unimpressed eyebrow at the uniformed young man with sea green hair, "You do know they probably know most of that crap already, right?"

Ironwood's toady had a crew cut to go with his uniform and his meathead look, and of course he had a weapon that doubled as a freaking backpack. And he wasn't particularly impressed by my snark apparently, giving me a deadpan look as he stood at attention, "Much of the information is being kept quiet. We wish to avoid a possible panic or overrun scenario if we can avoid it."

"Hav's right Qrow," Caldy said, the burnt woman stepping up beside me, "They _were_ pretty tight lipped about details before we were sent out."

I glanced first at Caldera, the red-head's short, asymmetrical cut bouncing slightly as she flipped her hair. Her black blouse still had those silly little ruffles and all the belts and bandoliers, from which dangled dozens of silver vials, each one with a different colored ring on top.

Then I looked at the variety of Hunters behind her, each of them sharing the same sort of expectant, slightly confused, but wary and calm expression that experienced Huntsmen would get.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair, "Okay…" a quick glance at the people peeking out of their windows at us made up my mind, "Let's get somewhere a bit more private for this."

-o-

"So we're looking at something that's bigger than a Deathstalker, not quite as big as a truly Giant Nevermore, but still pretty big. And it's armored. _Completely_ armored. Not to mention smart enough to come up with this plan in the first place. That's not the problem though, not for us. See, the problem is that it's fast. Faster than me, faster than everyone I recognize here. It's the fastest Grimm I've ever seen."

We were in the house we'd stolen. Hav would say 'appropriated', but basically stolen. The people who normally lived here had gone to stay somewhere else, they'd offered it up but still. Stolen.

"Basic idea is simple. The Huntsmen, that's us by the way," I said with a little raise of my eyebrows, getting some smiles and eye rolls in return, "Are supposed to get this things attention and lock it down so that the Atlas boys can hit it with the big guns. Because this thing is definitely fast enough to dodge Dust rounds or swat them out of the air, and it's tough enough to just ignore anything resembling normal or man portable."

Steel spoke up, sitting across from Caldera at the table, his chain-clad elbows resting against the wood, "Qrow, this thing scared you or something?"

I was standing at the head of the dinner table, palms on the oak as I leaned over it and gave my 'briefing', such that you could call it. The two teams of Hunters were sat on either side of the long rectangle, with my two 'interns' and Hav at the end.

"What? Me? Scared? What are you, crazy?" I drawled with a small smirk, getting some more eye rolls and smiles before I took it out from under them. My smile melted away as I admitted, "I'm pretty terrified of this thing actually."

Silence greeted my soft words before I continued, "I'd want all of STRQ with me before I took that thing on at minimum, and even then we'd want to ambush it. This thing is fast, I really need to get that across. Its claws might be able to snatch you out of the air as you go past it, and all I saw of its tail were gold streaks in the air." I met each of their gazes in turn, trying to use my own red eyes to impress on them just how bad that was. Steel's blue eyes narrowed, while Caldera's face turned into a frown, her mismatched orange and milky white eyes scrunching up. "Do _not_ engage it in melee range unless you absolutely have to. It's big enough that one hit might take you out of the fight, and it's fast enough that it _will_ hit you if you get into its range."

"Which is why they picked _us_ ," the red headed leader muttered, crossing her arms underneath her breasts with a thoughtful frown.

"Yup."

Two teams full of crowd control, movement limiting, or armor penetration through a variety of means, either by Semblance or Dust or Weapons, these teams had been built with a purpose in mind.

Killing the fuck out of this Aberrant asshole.

-oOo-

The knight crawled quietly through the forest, coming to a stop at the top of a hill near the town. I could distantly see the palisade wall of the town through the gaps in the trees, and sure, I was nervous, but we'd make this work!

I grinned up the length of Andoriol's body at him, getting a small chuffing sound from him as he straightened out slightly. My friend was half hunched over, his upper body at a rough forty-five-degree angle with his long tail out behind him for balance, keeping his head beneath the canopy. It'd have looked crazy or uncomfortable if it weren't for his reversed legs and tail, but for him it seemed almost natural.

"Ready?" I asked cheerfully, nearly bouncing in place despite being held by his ab-legs.

Another chuffing laugh as he looked back up at the town, his emerald eyes glowing as they swept over the town, **"As ready as I'll ever be. Now, we're… going… to…"** He trailed off, and I could have sworn that I saw his eyes in the visor of his mask widen, **"… oh no."**

My stomach dropped out from under me, "What?"

 **" _Lions!_ " **He nearly snarled before he jerked a step forward, hesitating as he glanced down at me before up once more.

I followed his gaze, my brain working furiously as I tried to connect the word to my knowledge of Grimm– there! Black shapes further down! Headed towards the tree-line to the cleared area around the town–

… _fuck_.

"Nemean Lions?!" I nearly squeaked, stiffening. There, barely visible through the trees was what looked to be a pride of impossibly black lionesses, each one probably the size of a train car– _except that one that was solid white and even bigger than Andy–?!_ "And a Nemean King?! Andy! You've got to–!"

The world _jerked,_ my blood sloshing around inside my head at the sudden G-forces, my vision blurring, **"Already going! Hold on!"**

As my vision returned as I blinked, seeing his ab-legs encircle me entirely, cutting me off from the outside world with black and white and darkness as he charged, the world jerking back and forth as he likely moved between the trees and hurtling towards the stupidly large lions.

Nemean Lions. One of the most infuriating Grimm, but also one of the most terrifying. For a Hunter that uses Dust or with certain Semblances? They weren't that bad, no worse than an Ursa Major. They were basically just big, black, saber-toothed cats with red eyes, and bone masks. But if you just had guns or raw strength? They were terrifyingly tough, their skin nearly impenetrable. And to our knowledge, a King Nemean's bone-white skin truly _was_ impenetrable.

Oh, and let's not forget the fact that _they can breathe laser beams!_

And the town didn't have a single reservoir of dust capable of shocking, burning, or otherwise elementally attacking the lions! I didn't know for sure if Andy could penetrate their tough hides, but he could do _something_!

I ground my teeth together as I clung to the soft down against his stomach, cursing my inability to help! If I just had Blooming Moon I could have thrown it down their throats and fired off its Dust! Or restrained them with its lengths of chains! Or _something!_

But here and now...? there was nothing I could do except cling to Andy and pray.

* * *

Nothing this time.


	11. Grimm Beginnings 11

**A.N.)-** I think you know the drill by now.

* * *

-o Qrow the Reaper o-

"At twelve hundred hours, the Vale Hunter teams will be heading out to seek out the Aberrant and lure it into the range of our gun emplacements." I rolled my eyes as Hav, the green-haired bastard, continued to boom out instructions to the military forces and the two teams over the howling of the wind. The tight-ass had also made himself deliberately audible to the villagers, louder than the howling winds over the walls so that they'd know that we actually knew what we were doing, leading an enormous Aberrant to the walls of the town.

Even as Caldera and Steel's teams were standing around inside the area just inside the gate, I leaned casually against the wall beside it, the two kids near me. Silf was cringing slightly from the volume of Hav standing above us atop the wall, the military dog wasn't exactly quiet.

"Mr. Branwen–" I rolled my eyes at the acknowledgement from my nominal 'superior', "–will be acting as coordinator between the huntsman and the emplacements." The military man looked at Caldera and Steel, "You have your assignments. Remember to avoid initiating conflict with large clusters of Grimm until the Aberrant has been dealt with. Fighting a battle on two–"

"Sir!"

One of the Atlas grunts ran down the walkway, feet flying across the wooden planks stuck into the trunks of the wall. Hav's already dour face added several more lines in an instant, his scowl deepening with the air of one long experienced to bad news, "What?"

As much as I despised agreeing with Ironwood's toadie, I matched his scowl, my fellow huntsmen all looking at the uniformed and armored soldier who had skidded to a halt in front of the the lieutenant. "Nemeans! Incoming!"

A brief instant of dread washed through me, and all of the other Huntsmen stiffened. That was _bad_.

What was good was that we had all the best kinds of forces here for _exactly this kind of situation_.

And then that singular moment was over, our glorious commander spinning about, flecks of spittle flying from his lips. "Get the emplacements up! Get the gates open enough for the Huntsmen! Militia to the walls! Civilians to the shelters! Huntsmen, head out! Restrain and take them down!"

Everything exploded into motion, militiamen rushing to the walls even as the rest of the civilians that had been obliquely peeking out from their homes rushed to their shelters. The rest of the huntsmen and myself hustled to the gate, weapons being drawn and activated as we all prepared for battle, quietly waiting for the gates to open.

I tilted my head to address the two students flanking me even as Hav shouted about readying the weapon, the whole reason Atlas was here. "Silf, Yin, you two stick with me, okay?"

"Don't worry about that," the brown haired Silf muttered, griping his staff-spear tightly.

"It's alright Silfy," Yin said with a grin, simply radiating confidence as he gave his shorter friend a shove with his elbow. "He just wants to take the credit for our kills."

The brunette gave his blond partner a weak grin, but it was better than nothing. The kids understood though.

Stick close to the fully trained Huntsman that wasn't part of a team.

It might be the two seniors' only chance to survive.

The gates cracked open and Caldera was the first out, her team right on her tail and the rest of us not far behind.

-o Hav the Arsenal o-

Squad Two was in position, Squad Three was nearly set up, Squad One was hustling to get the prototype in position, and the Huntsmen were heading out to buy us time. But I still had a terrible feeling of dread as I watched the approaching Nemeans from the wall of Blue Belle.

I counted at least six, no, _eight_ Nemean Lionesses' black forms so far as they slinked through the trees. I cursed my lack of Atlas helmet, the cameras on it would have helped, but my men would be able to pick them out better, and _they_ were the ones in charge of the gun emplacements. A Nemean King loomed behind them all, its bone-white back peeking out over the tops of the trees. All of them were large, with the King easily being the largest. I estimated it at being about… twenty or so meters at the shoulder and just over twice that from snout to rear.

The other Nemeans were about half its size. Based on what I knew, each one could release a burst of heat and light from their mouths in a conical, radiating blast. I'd seen what that attack could do to living targets… the lucky ones died in the first second. They were immune to anything short of artillery fire, internal damage bypassing their skin, or elemental attacks.

With a buffer zone of at least two hundred yards between the walls and the tree line, that gave the men and women atop the three-meter-thick walls a killing field to fire into. But being made of wood, if a single Nemean fired at us… the town would burn.

To face this enemy, we had approximately twenty militiamen with various low quality rifles. Two Beacon seniors. Two of the four heavy weapons we had were installed with another pair ready to replace them or take a different position if the worst came to pass.

Lastly, and most importantly, we had eight fully qualified Huntsmen, not counting Qrow Branwen and myself.

And _Project Recluse,_ the entire reason Vale had brought us in on this, to handle Grimm just like these.

Ignoring the fragility of the walls, our actual forces here weren't just capable of handling this, they were well-suited. But _Project Recluse_ wasn't ready yet, it _wouldn't_ be ready for nearly five minutes, and I knew better than anyone that five minutes might as well be _never_. Curse these backwater locals and their wooden palisade! Why couldn't they have made it out of stone or at least reinforced it somehow?

The Nemean King reared up on its hind legs, paws nearly twice as wide as a I was tall were planted atop trees that were over fifteen meters tall like it was nothing and _it breathed in–!_

With a sound like thunder, the damn thing _roared_ , releasing a lance of blindingly hot light– at the Huntsman.

A small measure of relief went through me, the _Huntsmen_ could move out of the way. The walls could _not_.

A cursory glance confirmed that they'd all survived and were breaking off into teams… Caldera's, Steel's, and Qrow's. Caldera's team was moving to intercept the Nemeans on the left, Qrow to intercept the Nemeans on the right, and Steel moving to take the King.

"All points!" I shouted as I turned to the militiamen at the walls around me, "Focus fire on the closest Nemean!"

My hand slid to the activation stud of DkNkm, I didn't want to use it this soon, but this many Nemeans… even assuming two Huntsmen could take one of the monstrous Grimm - which was a stretch - it'd take nearly an entire _team_ to kill the King. We didn't have enough forces to stop them from hitting the walls. I didn't _want_ to use DkNkm-0 this soon, my Teal Dust reserves were far too limited, but I needed to be ready…

Even if we took the Nemeans themselves down, if they destroyed the walls...

These Lions of Grimm could be the end of this town.

-o Andoriol the Alien o-

I'm going to be the end of these kittens.

 **"Risin up, back on the street, did my time, took my chances…" [1]**

Eight of the little ones, one of the big guys. Problem was their plasma breath, it had some serious range and could really damage the walls. If I didn't have to worry about that, I could have taken them all easily. But I needed to restrict their attacks, I needed to draw their attention… but with the Hunters engaging them I was going to get _everyone's_ attention.

 **"Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet just a man and his will to survive~"**

Eleven people like Summer attacking me? No thanks, even if I didn't have to worry about Summer herself.

But if I wanted to save the town, I didn't have much of a choice, did I?

 **"So many times, it happens too fast–"**

I nearly _exploded_ out of the forest, the thick trees splintering in my passing as I brushed them aside, uncaring and barely feeling them buckle against my armored hide.

My body flipped through the air once before slamming into one of the smaller lions, _talons first_. My momentum slammed the similarly sized beast into the dirt, carving a deep furrow in the ground as I _surfed_ the damn thing. Summer made a small sound at the sudden halt, but I couldn't stop to apologize.

Every other combatant on the field flinched at my sudden entrance, and even as my tail darted down, the golden point of my stinger slamming home into the eyesocket of the lion I stood upon, I _roared [2]_ a challenge at the lions. You'll have to do better than this to hurt those I guarded!

There was the crack of shots fired from the walls of the town, the large gun emplacements making themselves known as they _thundered_ , lighting up my senses as tracer rounds streaked out into the lions and peppered my armored hide like rain, the occasional round feeling more like a stinging slap against my armor.

A twitch in the corner of my vision– the 'feel' of air inside of enormous lungs– my left arm came up, wing flaring out to shield myself as hot plasma _slammed_ into my wing, splashing against it uselessly, little streams of plasma ricocheting off into the dirt, scorching molten lines into the ground. Damn big monsters and their powers.

The plasma was suddenly cut off as the hunters joined the fray, chains and bullets and elemental attacks streaking out from them, one such chain snapping taut around the big lion's muzzle and clamping it shut. But the thundering of paws on the dirt drew my attention to three of the damn cats as they tried to rush past the hunters–

No.

I nearly exploded from the ground, a soft grunt coming from around my stomach as I sailed over the forms of the oversized lionesses, clearing the distance in a single bound. The sound made me cringe inside even as I slammed into the dirt in front of the damn cats, damnit, Summer couldn't take my full speed.

With a thunderous whip-crack, my tail lashed out even as I threw my arms out for balance, two cracking booms as I dug my golden stinger into the eye sockets of the two lead lions, the third was out of reach of my tail from this angle and damn it was breathing in, my arm was on the way up when the damn thing roared, the lance of hot plasma slamming into my chest like a blast of scalding water from a hose. _Hot_! Damn! I got my arm and attached wingin the way as quickly as I could, the little ones couldn't truly hurt me outside of a 'sunbur– _Summer let out a pained gasp?!_

 _What?!_

My ab-legs couldn't protect her from the heat! Even _if_ I could take it!

 **No!**

The song stopped pouring from me with a _roar_ as I lunged forward, the plasma stream trailing off before I grabbed the damn things head with both hands and _twisted!_ There was a loud _crack_ as I turned the damn cat's head upside down, it let out a gurgling sound as it collapsed, starting to evaporate like its two fellows.

 _No one_ was going to hurt Summer while I drew breath.

-o Steel of the Chain o-

 _No one_ is getting hurt by this thing on my watch while I drew breath!

Gritting my teeth, I pulled desperately at the chains I held even as the Nemean King thrashed about. I dug my heels into the dirt, chains from my armor lashed out and burying themselves into the ground, anchoring me down even as the Grimm did its level best to tug my arms out of their sockets-!

Hold it. That's all I had to do. _Hold_ it.

My team could kill it. Caldera's team could kill it. Hell, _Qrow's_ ad-hoc team could kill it! All I had to do was hold it in place and keep it from vaporizing them or the town.

There was a _roar_ from the Aberrant behind me, but I ignored it, trusting my team to ensure that I didn't get stepped on.

Pain flared in my arm as the King moved one of its paws, straining my arms even as it swiped at Lavender, even as her Dust blade cracked like a lightning bolt, barely singing the King's skin, the displaced air of the swipe of its paw sending her tumbling away. Tracer rounds flew through the intervening space, barely visible at the speeds they flew at before slamming uselessly into the hide of the King, literally bouncing off of its tough hide.

The King _growled_ , the sound transferring easily through the chains wrapped around its muzzle and into my arms, trying to shake them out of their sockets as it thrashed about, my muscles and Aura both straining–

"Steel! Incoming at your eight!"

A cold fear gripped my chest as my eyes flicked over, the almost solid black form of one of the Nemeans bounding towards me– If I moved the King would get free– team-? Team-?!

There was a roar as the Nemean leaped, but it wasn't the Nemean that had roared.

The Aberrant slammed into the lion mid-air, tackling it to the ground near the King, pinning it down with both of its claws before roaring once more as _lightning began arc out from the Nemean-?!_ The hell?!

I could hardly do more than gape, since when could Grimm use lightning-?! And since when did Aberrants fight other Grimm-?! The Aberrant shifted its grip to the now dissolving Nemean's head and swung its fellow Grimm over its head to _club the King over the head?_!

The sudden jerk on my chains caught me off guard, making me skid along the ground for just an instant and giving the King enough slack to swipe at the Aberrant before I regained my grip and footing to lock it down. The Aberrant launched itself back before swinging its claws back up, bolts of lightning cracking between the claws for just an instant–

"Steel! Get down!" Huckleberry shouted and I immediately dropped to a knee, I didn't know what he saw but it didn't matter, I got the hell down, chains pulling me further down even as I tightened my grip on the ones that were wrapped around the King.

His cannon-shield slammed into the ground behind me, the familiar sound the only warning I had before brilliant orange light enveloped both of us, my dark skin nearly singed by the Nemean's laser as it was deflected around us. The King, of course, decided that _then_ was the best time to tug on its chains! It was actually trying to drag me out of the small safe zone Huck's Orchid made!

The beam cut off and within seconds there was the booming sound of Orchid's cannon firing, quickly joined by the concentrated gunfire of the town and its emplacements. I glanced over my shoulder, finding my teammate firing rapidly into the face of the Nemean behind us, the firing options of the town limited as it was between us and it _as it breathed in_ – _fuck my eyes-!_

Reflexively cringing, I had to blink the spots out of my eyes as the sound of the _lightning bolt_ washed over me… and the Nemean dropped to the dirt, a charred stump where its head had been.

I looked back at the Aberrant, the heels of its claws pressed together, lightning still crackling between them. It'd… _saved_ us?

The Nemean King made its displeasure known, heat pouring from its sealed muzzle as it thrashed about and… did I hear more of them? My eyes darted about and the pit of my stomach fell out at the sight of two of the Nemeans rushing straight towards us! Well… probably me.

Two of Caldera's team were still holding the one Nemean down as she blasted it, but the other team member chased after the one rushing towards us even as Qrow and his 'team' tried to stop the other! Damn unsuccessfully I might add! Sure, Qrow's kids had hobbled theirs by icing up one of its legs, but a cat the size of a train car was still fast as all hell!

Oh I fucking **_hated_** overpowered, intelligent, _cheating_ Grimm!

The ground jerked and shook as two massive talons slammed into it, talons bigger than my legs slamming into the dirt on either side of us as the Aberrant literally took a stance above us. The fuck-?! What was it-? _Defending_ us-?!

What kind of Grimm _defended_ people-?! What was going on here?

-o Andoriol the Alien o-

I had to defend these two, particularly the chain user. If they lost him, the big cat would breathe onto the wooden walls of the town before I could stop it! The two artillery pieces firing were actually injuring the smaller lions, but it wasn't going to be enough at this rate…

The pair coming at us weren't slowed down enough as the bullets sailed over the heads of the people beneath me to rain down on the monsters and me. The closer of the two surged forward, the one not hobbled by ice _pounced_ and my tail lashed out to intercept–

One of the artillery rounds slammed into the golden stinger, deflecting it slightly off course, not much, but enough that instead of burying itself into the monster's eye socket and skull, the stinger cut off whiskers and drew a thin line in the tough skin of its face. The booming thud of the impact was enough to make it stumble mid pounce, dropping back to all fours. But the unnaturally black, giant sabertoothed cat snarled and breathed in–

My right claw snapped out–

 _No._

My fist drove down its throat, interrupting its airflow and choking the damn thing's attack, a flex of my muscles sent bolts of bioelectricity arcing down the damn thing's body, making it convulse as I burnt it from the inside. But the focus nearly cost me as the other lion had actually breathed in, its chest compacting, the _burning_ sound inside its lungs telling me that it'd charged its plasma breath.

 _Also_ no.

My left claw swung up in a blur, uppercutting the thing in the throat mid roar, turning its 'adams apple' into _applesauce_. Invincible skin was useless in protecting your squishy internals. And a throat of applesauce was kind of bad when you were venting a small star through it.

With a flash of light and a wet, thunderous _boom_ that singed the knuckles of my left claw, the lion's head was blown off, its throat rupturing like a fruit with a firecracker stuffed inside.

"Andy-?!" Summer's voice was muffled, almost frantic as it came from the embrace of my thorax legs.

 **"All okay."** I said over the _boom_ of a monster the size of a train car dropping to the dirt, the impact sending a small tremor through the ground.

The lion's head reached the top of its arc, beginning its journey towards the earth, only to be snatched out of the air by my jaws with a snap even as I let the electrical nodes in my arm turn off as the other lion I had by the throat started to evaporate. Good.

The skull of the lion _crunched_ in my jaws as I turned, eyes dancing about. The final one of the saber-toothed giant cat monsters was being attacked by three of the hunters even as the others came towards the Alpha and I, a scattering of warriors…

I _would_ wonder how they intended to fight things nearly my size or bigger… but _I'd_ done that, hadn't I? Back when I was only mildly superhuman… I'd fought the birds and the bears that could approach my current size, with claws bigger than I was tall… and I had _won_. Warriors, trained and with weapons I could barely understand, with literally magical abilities?

Yeah, I could see them doing something about these shits.

I ignored the stinging numbness of the bigger rounds slamming into the armored plates of my back, like a punch through padding or a training suit… it hurt, and if they hit me in an uncovered bit it could do some real damage… but I couldn't just stand aside and _not_ do anything to help out. This was who I was. More than song, more than science, more than soul… I was compassion, I was protection, I was succor in the face of adversity.

In the face of tooth and claw and hatred, I was a shield.

My eyes met the hateful, solid red gaze of the biggest of the lions, the one that was easily twice my size, with skin tougher than my own armor and with claws that were probably able to actually pierce the same.

It was restrained by the chains from the hunter that I stood over protectively, but it was thrashing about as we stood here, near the edge of the forest… the hunter wouldn't be able to restrain it for much longer. This one was mine.

 _You_.

Get in my belly.

And then there was the roar.

-o Molten Caldera o-

"Roar?"

I rode the geyser of water Chelsea created, laughing as Aster sent a boulder hurtling at me as I hovered in front of the face of the Nemean just as it breathed in.

With a ferocious grin, I slammed my palm into the rock, Aura dancing along my skin and through the Dust in my makeup, and I called out _fire_. Power poured forth as I struck the rock, reaching the point that it could take no more within half an instant until it glowed, deformed, and exploded forwards-!

An orange-white jet rocketed straight down the creature's open mouth and its throat-!

"More like a _meow_! Am I right?" I snapped, landing on the column of ice that had been a geyser just an instant ago. I slid down the pillar, flicking beads of molten glass off of my hand.

Aster though decided to take issue with my joke as her flail retracted back into its mace configuration, "Ha, I haven't heard a joke that bad since the last time you were stuffing your face with that dork from that garrison!"

"Did you just call me fat, Aster?!" I shouted over at my teammate with a grin, hitting the dirt at a full sprint, dancing across the cracked and hardened earth with practiced ease and leaving behind the Grimm as it fell to the dirt, smoke pouring from its mouth and eyes. Working with Aster meant getting used to running along rough terrain after all! "Come on! A girl's gotta enjoy good food and company every now and then!"

The thundering of the guns from the town petered out slightly before picking back up, tracers no longer whizzing over our heads as the villagers on the walls either reloaded or reoriented on another target.

Aster vaulted over the craggy stones she'd created even as Chelsea skated along on the road of ice to meet up with us as we moved to rejoin the fight. Damn Grimm were getting away from us and doing a fair job of it to boot! Though, hell, it practically wasn't a fight at this point, 'cause either Qrow or Steel had gotten a lot better or the brats with Qrow were crazy good 'cause weren't we short like, six Grimm–?

…the Aberrant was literally standing right over Steel and Huckle.

 _Fuck_.

My eyes snapped about, the Huntsmen were gathered around the feet of the Aberrant, Steel was restraining the King… _barely_ restraining the King still, tracer rounds visibly bouncing off of the Aberrants hide but the largest caliber guns simply couldn't fire on it with the Huntsmen so close. Kelly and Lavender were nearly at the Aberrant's feet as well, two corpses of Nemeans dissolving on either side of it… Qrow had entirely taken off ahead of the interns, moving at his top speed towards the engagement as the two students rushed after him–

And then there was a roar.

Not from the Aberrant, that was distinctive. Not from the Nemean King either.

From the forest.

Oh… oh shit.

It was the roar of an Ursa, accompanied by the howls of Beowulfs and the cries of Nevermores.

I skidded to a halt, Aster and Chelsea nearly bumping into my back as they followed my gaze, a cold dread gripping my chest. The forest, with trees nearly fifty feet high, that stretched out to the horizon and to the distant mountains… _writhed_ with black and white and red as far as the eye could see.

"About face girls…" I almost whispered over the… sounds. The buzz of Beelzebubs, the flapping of Nevermore's wings, the howls of Fenrirs, the hiss of Taijitu, the chittering screams of Chupacabra's… and the skies… skies that had once been the shining blue of a new day… were now overcast with the shadow of a _cloud_ of flying creatures of Grimm.

The fight must have unsettled the town enough… or maybe just the sheer noise of all of this had drawn them… I… I didn't know. But it looked like every creature of Grimm that the Aberrant had been gathering for the past months had decided it was time to attack… almost as if they were _called_.

Damn intelligent Grimm… fucking Aberrants… this… this is what it'd been building up to… a nearly literal tidal wave of hatred and malice. Qrow had been right… and just as we'd gotten ready to fight it, it'd struck… just before we were ready. It… it had pre-empted us, it'd _ambushed_ the _ambushers_.

My teeth nearly ground together I let my Aura dance through the Dust I'd powdered and painted onto myself, feeling it heat up as the energy began to nearly tremble in eagerness at being used. An eagerness I, for once, didn't really feel.

"This is what we're here for," I muttered, backing towards the town. Team Collateral was _great_ for just widespread destruction, for places where we didn't need to worry about what we broke… but this… We… We needed to set up a defensible position, to get behind the walls and just hole up! And… and pray for reinforcements.

There was a sudden peal of thunder, the rolling wave of lead and bullets and Dust hurtling out from the walls of the town, the massive guns Atlas had brought having a distinctively low boom as massive tracer rounds hurtled out indiscriminately into the tree line. They didn't even need to aim… just sweep the barrels back and forth and hold the trigger… You'd hit _something_ no matter where you aimed...

I-... I hoped the Atlas guys had brought enough boom. Because I was all boom all the time, and I knew I _hadn't_...

* * *

[1] watch?v=FDDeCaP_HGI

[2] watch?v=v_LFKNghYi8


	12. Grimm Beginnings 12

**Grimm Beginnings 12**

-o Yinyue the Golden Songbird o-

"Silf?" I prompted my partner as we slowed in our pursuit of the Nemean Lioness, it seemed prudent given that the beast of Grimm we'd been seeking to stop was now very, very dead.

But it was not the focus of my gaze. Not anymore.

"Yeah Yin?"

Rather, it was the surging tide of monstrosities that were pouring forth from the forest.

"We're fucked, aren't we?" I grinned at my brown-haired partner, enjoying the small snort it got from him and knowing that it'd have eased some of the dread he had to feel. For I felt it too, the Grimm were beginning to pour forth from the forest like an avalanche of hatred and vile darkness.

"More than a drunken Mistrel whore at the docks during happy hour," he muttered, barely audible over the howls of the oncoming tidal wave of Grimm and the thunder of the guns behind us.

I grinned at him, "You'd know wouldn't you."

His eyes rolled as he muttered dryly, "Ha _hah_. Not the time."

"Not really, no," I admitted with a small, still confident grin as I switched out the clips of Praepostero Pinnae with a little twirl, I'd need to be sure to keep a set of clips ready to be used as Knuckle Dusters given the surging tide of Grimm would likely force us into a melee...

If we were going to go down though, we'd do it in a shining blaze of glory, worthy of the heroes of old, "Come on, they need us."

I charged.

And with a sigh, Silf followed.

The Grimm surged from the forest even as the Huntsmen near the Aberrant and Steel seemed torn, protect the huntsmen? Run to the town? It didn't matter what they chose, they'd need cover and support, and that was something the two of us could do well.

And so I began to sing.

My Semblance poured out, a wordless song that danced along the spine and heart, resonating against their very bones. Aura poured forth, and in sequence, the Auras of the Huntsmen began to light up, my own brilliant golden white, Silf's emerald light, and every other one in turn as I brought them in the range of my song.

Chorus. The ability to enhance the Aura and Semblances of others with my own.

We'd need every bit of help we could get to hold off the tidal wave of Grimm…

-o Hav the Arsenal [1] o-

My hands tightened around the edges of the wall, making the wood crack and splinter as I ground my teeth before shouting out, "Stand firm! Fire! Once the Nemean is down we can hold this position without worry! Keep firing! Militia, fire on the lesser Grimm! All Atlas points, fire on the Nemean King!"

I pulled my hand from the wall to my Scroll and open up the comms to Squad One, "Squad One! We need Project Recluse ready _now!_ "

"Sir-?! We're–!"

"I know!" Already working as fast as they could, they were good men, but the situation had gotten worse, "Skip steps if you have to! Now means _now!_ "

"Sir!"

Letting my hand drop back to the edge of the wall, I watched the Huntsmen of Vale as they lit up like multicolored beacons, their Auras suddenly flaring into visibility with the Semblance of Yinyue. They were scattered around the Aberrant and King, Steel still restraining the King despite the Aberrant standing over him.

An Aberrant that was _still_ fighting off the Grimm. Or at very least, it'd fought off the Nemeans… had it been to create enough noise and draw the attention of the rest of this horde? Or was it just cultivating even more Negativity…? Or was it something else?

There was no time to dwell on it, though. We had a small war ahead of us. And no matter what I could see, the Huntsmen of Vale apparently had enough information to move forward. One of Steel's team leapt into the air at the Aberrant, her gun firing repeatedly and making the humanoid Grimm leap away, a strange roar escaping it, **"STAHTHAH!"**

It wasn't like it's previous roars... intelligence...? Communication? Either was a terrifying possibility.

Flames and bullets and ice leapt out from the Huntsmen, all enhanced by the Chorus Semblance, pouring firepower into the Grimm horde. It seemed Steel's team was still focusing on bringing down the Nemean King to try and free up their team leader.

One of the artillery guns we'd brought remained focused on the Aberrant even as the other tried to bring down the King; the two guns the locals had put up were firing indiscriminately into the horde, as were the militia. Those guns had no chance of hurting either of those two monsters.

And–

The hairs on the back of my neck and arms beneath my uniform stood on end and my eyes darted over to the very obvious source.

Bolts of lightning arced out from the Aberrant, a blinding bolt jumping between its foreclaws… and it raised those electrified foreclaws to the sky and called down a thunderbolt.

A literal bolt of lightning struck the Aberrant from the otherwise blue skies above before it brought its claws down and dragged the lightning bolt with them, releasing a constant stream of electrical energy into the forest. A veritable storm of electricity jumped from its claws into the horde of Grimm. Entire swaths of Grimm were reduced to little more than charred and evaporating embers as serpentine bolts of lightning arced out into the tree line. Why-? What did it get out of–

A thunderous _thoom_ overwhelmed the buzzing crackle of electricity, accompanied by a flash of warmth–

My eyes darted back to the Huntsmen, Caldera and her team were unloading into the tree line as the front lines of the horde reached it. A horizontal geyser of lava settling to the ground and starting to cool, the trees around it slowly falling as they burned, two twisters forming, one white with the shards of ice within it and the other a brilliant yellow-orange as Caldera poured forth flames into it, one of her teammates directing the two twisters to sweep back and forth across the treeline. A mace came down and caused the earth to shatter, a wall jerking upwards between a portion of the forest and the clearing, a wave of water surging alongside it to form an accompanying wall of ice as it snap-froze.

Everyone had basically written off the closest portions of the forest, brush and trees catching fire freely as artillery rounds, canon shells, and elemental blasts flew into it and the Grimm surging through it. The destruction turned large trees into splinters, the smell of the burning wood and Grimm flesh starting to reach us, not far behind the buzzing crackle of the Aberrant's thunderstorm and the snap and pops of the burning wood, barely audible over the rolling thunder of the guns–

I nearly gasped as the air was literally pulled from my lungs for just an instant. I stumbled, nearly slumping against the wall before looking up, cries of panic and fear coming from the militiamen. Who'd–?! None of the Huntsmen had an ability like that– the Nemean–?! Prepping its breath weapon could have an effect like… it was still chained up. None of the other Grimm I could see in the forest or sky had a breath weapon of… sufficient...

The Aberrant stood tall, bolts of electricity still arcing between the plates of its hide but no longer reaching out into the treeline. It was arching backwards, what tall grass was in the clearing that had survived the battle was leaning towards the humanoid and heavily armored Grimm.

"You really are a custom built piece of shit aren't you…" I grumbled to myself under my breath, just before the Aberrant _roared_ , the sound drowning out the rolling thunder of gunfire.

A tight beam, white hot with a blueish tinge blasted out from the Aberrant's mouth and was sustained as it swept across the skyline. The grass beneath the Aberrant caught fire, as did the tops of the trees, and the very sky itself seemed to combust as the black cloud that obscured the skyline lit up. Even here, from atop the palisade walls approximately 170 meters away, I could feel the heat like a campfire only a few meters away, the militiamen around me and even some of my own men were shielding their faces.

What had been clear blue skies with a cloud of Grimm darkening the day instead lit up like like a sunset, the entire swath of the sky turning a brilliant orange and red as entire swaths of the airborne Grimm combusted just by the beam passing nearby, bolts of lightning jumping from the white hot lance as it swept along above the trees. The canopy of the trees below catching fire as well just by the passing of the beam as the Aberrant was shrouded in flames from the grass around it. I could only _imagine_ what the Huntsmen must've been going through that much closer to the Aberrant, the Vale warriors obviously flinching away for just an instant before one of the students accompanying Qrow caused a sheet of ice to sprung up between their side of the field and the Aberrant–

The Nemean King decided that it was tired of being caged, and to make that known _then_ , of course.

The black mane of the white, sabertoothed monstrosity whipped about as it swung its head around, and Steel went with it, tossed about by his chains and swung around nearly like a tetherball!

"Shit! He's-!"

"Keep firing damnit!" I snapped at the militiaman not far from me, my hands clenching at the my hands hovering over the activation studs of DkNkm. Not yet. The terrifying laser, thankfully and confusingly pointed _away_ from the town, trailed off and the Aberrant slumped forward, nearly stumbling slightly.

Was… was this thing insane…? Or maybe diseased–? What kind of Grimm would–?

My attention was jerked away as Steel went _hurtling towards the Aberrant-?!_

I'd missed the instant of how it happened, but somehow the King had severed the chains restraining it and had flung Steel away, _towards_ the armored Grimm. Steel was like a dark comet with a tail of chains, the King rushing after him as were the huntsmen not trying to stem the tide of the Grimm as they broke through the tree-line–

The Aberrant struck out-!

It intercepted Steel mid-flight, its black wing enveloping the Vale Huntsman just an instant before the King _roared_ , the red laser pouring forth from its mouth and splashing against the Aberrant's form, streams of heat and light ricocheting off of its feathers and armored hide.

One of the nearby militiamen jerked back in surprise, "I-It _ate_ him-?!"

-o Steel of the Chain o-

… I wasn't seeing the inside of a Grimm's stomach. Color me surprised.

My vision was still returning after that tumble, my balance out of whack despite my Aura's best efforts to recalibrate it, but I knew for certain that A). I wasn't dead and B). I was in the middle of a fight still… somehow.

I gripped the thing around me as the world jerked and swung, the world a mess of black and white and red–

I was holding onto a tail… the _Aberrant's_ tail… which was wrapped around me and holding me aloft as the large Grimm continued to fight… to fight the Nemean King. I reflexively cringed as heat washed over me accompanied by a roar, streamers of brilliant orange and red shooting past my eyes as what had to be the Nemean King's breath weapon parted around the Aberrant like water around a rock… and I was just barely safe.

The laser was only about five feet away from me and the heat actually pressed against my Aura in the few seconds the blast lasted.

But I grit my teeth, trying to push my Aura down through my armor, trying to regain control of my chains. I needed them to do _anything_ in this situation. But it was _hard_ , the Aberrant was jerking about, ducking and weaving and practically dancing around the massive sweeps of the Nemean King's paws. It was moving blindingly fast for something of its size, and the King had yet to hit it, but even as it landed half a dozen strikes to the Nemean's muzzle for every swipe of its claws, it had yet to do more than draw blood.

Wait, were… we were moving around…? The Aberrant was placing its back to the forest and _the oncoming tide of fucking Grimm_.

At the corners of my vision, past the motions of the Aberrants wings as it dodged about, I could see bolts of elemental fury, flashes of lava and tornados and waves of ice as Team Collateral lived up to their name.

But even with the booming guns and what I knew were the best efforts of my team and the others… I could see the blanket of Grimm still coming, still advancing even through the razor sharp ice and fire, lit by the orange glow of the burning cloud of flying Grimm. What had been a an ominous cloud of black and white, the Grimm obscuring the very sky… had turned into a firestorm that was slowly falling to the forest below, a blaze that spread even as the bodies evaporated.

My team-! They weren't well suited to this sort of engagement! Shit! Come on! _Move!_

One of the chains twitched, and then another, and _more_ started to move, _finally_. It was hard to spread my defensive Aura down the entire lengths of the chains, but if I couldn't, I was a sitting duck. I couldn't get out of the grip of the Aberrant's tail on my own! And with the Grimm literally surging forward… even between almost a dozen Huntsmen and the four gun emplacements and however many militiamen there were up there… the Grimm were advancing. My team needed me!

The Aberrant and the Nemean King were facing off closer to the treeline, only about thirty yards from it and about a hundred and fifty from the walls of the town. And the front lines of the Grimm were quickly closing the gap, barely ten yards from us now.

If I could get my chains working properly again I could… I could fight off at least some of the tide of Grimm? The Aberrant wasn't crushing me or throwing me about or anything so, fuck it, I'll take advantage of–

A terrible screech pierced the cloud behind me and made my blood run cold.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me, _Griffons?!_ "

And not just any Griffon.

A monster nearly the size of the Nemean King, falling like a meteor, over a hundred feet long, _on fire,_ and coming straight towards us!

The flaming Griffon divebombed the Aberrant's back, and the tail around me thrashed, the golden tip dancing for just a moment before the armored Grimm spun around, its left claw crackling with electricity–

A roar of _pain_ came from the Aberrant as it jerked, and I looked quickly, finding that the Nemean King had _pounced_ in that instant of distraction, one of its paws swiping across the Aberrants right arm and sending a spray of blood and bone armor into the air. The Aberrant snarled and its left claw jerked back, a bolt of lightning flying into the Nemean's face, forcing it to recoil for just a moment as the tail around me tightened and the golden stinger lashed out at the flaming Griffon.

But the Griffon snatched it out of the air! Its head snapped out and caught the tail just behind the bulbous stinger at its tip, drawing another pained screech from the Aberrant as it was tugged backwards, its tail tightening around my waist-!

The Nemean King surged forward again, and while the Aberrant threw a lightning bolt into its face with its wounded arm, it screeched in pain as it did–

"Andy-?!"

… the hell was that-?

The Griffon tugged at the Aberrant's tail again and nearly threw it off balance, the Nemean breathing in-! The Aberrant's wings came back up as the Nemean _roared fire_ , it's terrible laser splashing around it once more, beams ricocheting off and actually clipping the flaming Griffon behind it. The Aberrant roared in pain as its injured wing caught fire, but the Griffon didn't let go of its tail despite losing a wing to the deflected blast, beams of light hurtling out to turn the Grimm near the tree line into bloody mists.

Damnit! These huge Grimm were going to kill my team just fighting amongst themselves!

-o Yinyue the Golden Songbird o-

A beam as orange as the setting sun hurtled past me, missing me and my partner by scant feet before it exploded upon mere contact with the ground!

I leveled my pistols and answered with retorts of my own, each shot ringing true, accenting the crescendo of my song as we stood against the oncoming tide of Grimm, firing freely as I stood in front of Silf and sent the nearest of the beasts back to their maker!

I slid to the left and the blue crystal of Silf's weapon stabbed forward, sending a wave of ice crystals forming and blocking off some of the Grimm's approach and impaling some of those that were too close. And like the counterweight to his mechanism, my aim swiveled automatically, firing into the Ursae and Beowolves that were still free to move.

A black fog hung over the fields, the sheer numbers of Grimm dying and evaporating meant that the tide of monsters were accompanied by an encroaching sea of black smoke, slowly covering the empty stretch of ground between the trees and the walls of the town.

With a roar, an Ursa Major pushed through the rain of bullets I was putting out, raising its paw.

I snarled, throwing up my right pistol and ripping the clip out as it hurtled upwards, letting the bullets project out past my knuckles as I rushed the Ursa, "Back-! Off-!" I snapped out, punching the offending Ursae right in the face, setting off several of the bullets in the clip and relieving it of its head.

A backstep as I tossed the clip back up into the falling pistol just before I caught it and continued firing.

Frustration poured through my veins as I resumed singing. The Grimm just kept coming!

Even unloading freely into the horde, they just weren't dying fast enough! It was a veritable _sea_ of the creatures of darkness and bone! For every one that I killed, a dozen took its place! Even with my rounds striking true again and again, every shot slamming home in the skulls of an offending monster, they simply didn't fire fast enough! The tide of Grimm kept sweeping towards the shores of Blue Belle, and if they could reach it they may wash it away–

"Taijitu!"

I hit a high note and sent my Aura surging outwards, spinning aside and letting my partner step up, his golden staff spinning as the crystal shone, my Aura empowering his own as he poured it through the Freeze Dust.

His grip shifted on his staff and the blinding blue crystal fell before it rose again, dragging against the ground in its arc before sending a tidal wave of forward, intercepting the enormous black and white snake, stopping it in its tracks–

 _*CRCK!*_

But it wasn't enough! The ice was cracking! Damnit! I grit my teeth and dropped the clips from my pistols even as I swept the guns about, slamming home two new clips of Grav Rounds for the massive beast–

"Got it!"

With a flash of silver and red, Qrow surged past us and flew through the air, hurtling straight at the snake-like Grimm's white head. The scythe hooked around its thick neck and his momentum carried him on, but for a single terrifying moment the Taijitu's neck didn't give–

Then with a resounding _bang,_ Qrow fired the shotgun on his scythe, sending the gleaming segmented blade straight through the Grimm's thick neck, completely beheading it, sending the bone-white snake head hurtling through the air even as Qrow landed on the ground.

The black head was already in motion, snapping out in a blur straight towards the Huntsman– But Qrow simply continued his turn, his weapon spinning in his hands before he swung it upwards at the last instant, sunlight glinging off his weapon in a crescent flash–

And the Grimm's head split straight down the middle, parting around Qrow in a spray of blood.

The Taijitu's white head continued its arc through the air even as Qrow was already in motion, flipping over the two already dissipating halves of the Taijitu's black head and spinning like a dervish as he dove straight into the oncoming Grimm–

With a _slam_ , the decapitated head crushed a Beowulf that had been trying to flank Caldera, and Qrow dashed to the side, scythe extended to cut a half dozen Grimm in half.

I blinked.

Well shit.

-o Molten Caldera [2] o-

I didn't jump as the Taijitu's head slammed behind me, I was a _professional_ damnit, but…

"A little warning next time Qrow!" I snapped even as I poured Aura through the Dust in my makeup, feeling my skin _burn_ at the unrestrained use of my Dust… but now, more so than ever before for team Collateral, was _not the time for restraint!_

"Sauna!"

I reacted immediately, launching myself off the top of a Beowulves head an instant before a surge of water bowled over it and dozens of others as Chelsea's Skates glowed a brilliant blue, sending waist high surges of water rushing into the oncoming line of Grimm as she spun in place.

Reaching the top of my jump, I hung in the air for an instant–

My arm _burned_ as I held it high, pain dancing across my skin as flames poured from it–

And I brought it down, pouring outwards, a tight beam of heat shooting straight through the water and to the ground, spreading out quickly and causing the water to glow for an instant before it transformed into steam.

Explosively.

The shockwave of hot steam pushed me higher into the air even as it reduced dozens of Grimm into scalded, smoking bits, Chelsea turning the oncoming wave of scalding hot water and steam into an ice shield with a twist of her leg.

Barely audible over the resounding boom and rushing winds, Seiche's voice called out, "Twister!"

Wait, what?! That'd make it her third one! She couldn't–

My teeth ground together. No. She couldn't handle that. But we didn't have any choice, did we? There was just too much space for this few of Huntsmen to stem the tide. Damn Grimm.

I tucked myself in, letting the swirling winds pass over me without touching me as a third tornado formed on the battlefield, one of ice, one of fire, and now one of steam.

Hitting the ground running, I ran… away. I ran _away_ from the front lines of the Grimm as the three twisters of death tore into the Grimm, sweeping back and forth and sweeping up the smaller Grimm while burning and tearing apart the larger ones.

Seiche was baring her teeth, swinging her spear back and forth, the crystal in its head glowing brilliantly as she tried to contain and control the wrath of nature she'd created. Aster stood before her, crushing an Ursa's head with a swing of her mace, keeping the area around our caster clear.

The Grimm around us were cleared out but… we were going to be flanked. We were like a stone in a river, the water parted around us but it just kept going. We could kill every Grimm that got into range… but even together, even as a team we didn't have the range to cover the entire tree line. We had to keep falling back to keep from getting surrounded even _with_ the continuous thunder of fire from the walls of Blue Belle.

Fucking _intelligent_ Grimm! How long had it been setting this up?! How many fucking Grimm had it gathered?! Hell, even _with_ the entire forest on fire from the burning cloud of airborne Grimm that had fallen on it, there were still _thousands_ of the damn things! And the fires might take out _some_ of the Grimm, but there were still too many!

"Aster!" I snapped out, rushing towards my teammates, Chelsea moving to meet me as we fell back, _again_ , "Left and Right! Set me up!"

With a quick nod, the large woman swung her mace down, skimming the tip against the ground, the Dust inside activating as she threw up two showers of rocks on either side of her and Seiche before she hopped back a step.

I was in her place in an instant, the Dust painted along my skin eager to be used, and I _used it_. Heat blasted out as I threw my hands out on either side of me, converting all of the dirt and rock into magma in an instant and sending it blasting out in two cones of death into the Grimm on either side of us, a _lava shotgun_.

But it was just a drop in the water, and _damnit_ , I'd nearly clipped some of Team Shackle with that! There was more power to my attacks than normal, something about that kid with Qrow when he sang, but I kept underestimating my shots. But fuck these Grimm! Fuck them straight to hell!

"Keep falling back to the town!" Qrow uncharacteristically _shouted_ , "Make the bastards fight for every inch!"

-o Qrow the Reaper o-

"Make the bastards fight for every inch!"

I said that, but… this could very easily be terrible.

Murder spun in my hands as I dashed back and forth between the front lines of the Grimm. Each glinting dance split one of the bastards in two or more pieces.

But even as good as I was, this was something Summer or my sister would have been better suited for. I just couldn't be in enough places at once to do enough to take down who knows how many Grimm. Even with Yin's Semblance buffing us, this just wasn't a fight we could _win._ It was one we could survive though. we had to keep falling back and just _pray_ that the crazy giant Grimm didn't destroy the town with their fight–

I glanced over at them mid-spin, cleaving another Ursa in half.

The flaming Griffon was still tugging on the Aberrant's tail as it duked it out with the Nemean King, struggling to meet the strength and mass of the larger Grimm head. The guns the Atlas goons had brought weren't doing anything to the giant Grimm, but they were tearing through the littler Grimm stupid enough to be near the fight. It was only the younger and stupider Grimm that were getting literally stepped on for getting underfoot of the giants.

The Nemean was almost uninjured, several small crimson trickles of blood coming from small wounds on its pale white hide, the Aberrant was bad off though, its tail was in the Griffons mouth and there were numerous deep gouges in its armor, crimson blood pouring from them as it fought. The Griffon was the worst off of the three titans, it was down a wing and its body had several holes in it, oh and let's not forget that it was, of course, _still on fire_.

The Nemean was going to win that fight, if only because the two of them were ganging up on the Aberrant.

I flipped over an oncoming Deathstalker, spinning in the air before firing Murder and exploding downwards, the tip of my scythe burying itself just behind the scorpion-like creature's head before a twist of Murder's handle sent the gun barrel swiveling forward, another pull of her trigger launched me off of the Grimm and back towards the two kids.

Somersaulting backwards, I spun, gathering momentum until, as I landed, I could release a _blast_ of pressurized air, a cutting edge formed of Aura and will and brute strength.

The brilliant crescent of death nearly exploded outwards horizontally in front of me as I landed, gouging the stomachs out of a half dozen Beowulves and opening up the faces of a few Ursa as well, many of them immediately 'popping' into black smoke.

Yin's pistols fired rapidly as he continued to pick off the Grimm. Where _was_ everyone?

Murder swept through the air, removing the head of an offending Grimm as my eyes darted about.

Caldera and her team were doing what they did best, total devastation. The entire area to my left was just a broken and burned field, twisters of impossible natural disasters sweeping back and forth through the front lines of the Grimm horde. Steel's team was to the right and the three of them were faltering, without their leader… even with every Huntsman _glowing_ with their Aura as Yin sang… we were slowly having to fall back.

I grit my teeth and shouted out over the thunder of fire from the walls, "Form a line! All Huntsmen! Line up!"

STRQ was legendary for a reason, and even broken we wouldn't falter, we wouldn't let all of this fall apart. **I** wouldn't let this all fall apart!

The forest was ablaze, the dissipating cloud of burning Grimm having fallen upon it and set the entire thing on fire. Even the Grimm still pouring out of the trees burned, some being killed even before they got to us. But some was not _all_ … there was about two hundred yards of clearing between the walls of the town and the burning tree line… and nearly half of that was _covered_ in Grimm. The guns of the militia and the artillery were pouring into the tide on either side of the area we were able to keep clear, but every minute we fell back another step, if only to keep ourselves from being flanked.

I wouldn't let it, for Summer's sake. I wouldn't let the town she'd _given her life_ for fall–!

… wait, was it suddenly shady? Because the burning cloud of Grimm might've been gone but it was still day and the whole forest was burn– _INCOMING WING!_

"Move!" I snapped out, throwing myself to the side and rolling back to my feet as a huge, feathered wing, nearly fifty feet long, _slammed_ into the ground where I'd just been standing.

Hot blood splattered against my face and clothes, thrown off by the stump of the limb.

Nevermore-?

No. They were all dead already–

There was a _roar_ of pain.

The _Aberrant_. [3]

-o Steel the Chain o-

The Aberrant...

The thing had lost one of its wings.

The howling wind tugged at my chains and danced across my skin as I stared.

Chunks of its armor and flesh had been gouged out by the Nemean King's claws, and with the Aberrant unable to dodge, it had simply had to take the abuse, deflecting what it could with its arms and lightning bolts from its uninjured arm. Each bolt caused blood to spurt from the wounds, the effort clearly taking something from the unique Grimm as it fought the much larger Nemean.

But with its mobility taken away by the Griffon's grip on its tail, it'd only been a matter of time until the Nemean King had landed a good blow… its claws had sunk deep into the flesh of the Aberrant's arm, the Nemean's bulk and might contending with the armored Grimm's own strength and armor for a single, long moment. Something had to break… and it'd been the Aberrant that had broken, its entire left wing being torn off at the end of its humanoid arm.

The knightlike Grimm let out a howl of pain as it stumbled back, but the Griffon shuffled back as well, its body burning into nothingness even as it kept the Aberrant's tail taut.

The Nemean _roared_ and the Aberrant blocked with its injured wing, the tail around me _quivering_ as the world outside of the protective bubble its wing created turned a blinding red and white once more.

But I wasn't _crushed_ , the thing was _deliberately_ keeping me alive, because there's _no_ way it didn't have more than enough strength to kill me like this, on _accident_ even.

The Nemean King charged as its roar ended, straight into a _blindingly_ bright bolt of lighting, with a thunderclap that left my ears ringing and leaving enough static in the air to set my short hair standing on end. This time it was the saber-toothed Grimm that howled in pain, one of its eyes exploding as it was cooked right out of its head.

A muffled screech from the Griffon came before another tug at the tail, causing it to tighten around my waist worryingly–

Enough of this shit!

I raised my chain, ready to attack the Griffon and at very least keep it from crushing me–

But I wasn't the only one that had that feeling of enough is enough.

With a snarl, one of the Aberrant's legs snapped out, and for an instant, I was confused– it'd already _tried_ to kick the Griffon, it _couldn't_. Its tail was too long compared to its leg, it couldn't reach the Griffon's head–

There was the sound of parting flesh and a gout of blood splattered on my side as the tail suddenly loosened around me– the Griffon stumbled and the Aberrant _lunged_ , backhanding the Griffon across the beak and knocking it to the ground– how-?!

My eyes darted about even as the Aberrant turned its back on the Nemean for just an instant, raising its right arm high, static gathering with a buzz audible even over the thunder of gunfire, the crackle of the burning forest, and the roars of the Grimm. The smell of ozone suddenly overpowered everything else, the burning flesh of the Aberrant and other Grimm, the coppery smell of human blood and the briney scent of Grimm blood…

And I finally saw the glinting of the golden stinger at the end of the Aberrant's tail… still hanging from the beak of the Griffon.

The Aberrant had cut off the tip of its own tail.

Down came its claw, and with it, the thunder.

 ** _*CRCK-THOOM*_**

I nearly lost my lunch, coughing as a tingling buzz went over my skin, little searing bits of pain where my chains touched me as sparks jumped from my mithril chain armor to my skin, and the ground beneath us just gave way under the force of the blow, the entirety of the Griffon's chest cavity reduced to cinders and so much hamburger.

 _*EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE–_ *

Oh, and I couldn't hear anything over the ringing in my ears. Just, holy shit, what a blas–

 _Incoming Nemean!_

The massive wall of white, saber-toothed monster surged towards us!

 _*EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE–_ *

Everything around me spun, or maybe that was just me, because the Aberrant moved like lightning. My world blurred and I was put under serious Gs as the Aberrant spun, ducking beneath the swipe of the Nemean's paw before uppercutting the catlike Grimm right in the underside of its jaw.

Breathing in, the Nemean readied another roar, only to take a left hook to the face as the Aberrant darted in, turning its head aside with the blow as it fired its laser, deflecting the blast into the burning forest.

 _*EEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee–_ *

My world became a mess of blurs and G-forces as the Aberrant began to dart around, practically dancing around the Nemean's claws once more now that it wasn't held down by the Griffon, blows raining down on the Nemean's face as it ducked and wove through the larger Grimm's strikes. The two titans were literally stepping on smaller Grimm as they moved back and forth, crushing their smaller brethren without care as they battled.

The tide of Grimm continued forward, almost as uncaring of the two giants as they were of the creatures underfoot, even Ursa nearly as high as the Aberrants waist or the knees of the Nemean King were worth little more than a pointed step or lash of taloned feet into their skull to try and gain height advantage.

I clung to the tail around me, trying to keep myself steady and from losing my lunch as I was jerked back and forth, it was a pain because the Aberrant's blood was making me slick and I was twisting back and forth in the grasp of its tail. Wait… why hadn't its blood evaporated–

Blue-white light _blasted_ out from the town and the Aberrant _jerked_ and stumbled as the beam _slammed_ into its side, causing it to roar in pain. The _power_ from the Dust laser sent unpleasant tingles dancing across my skin even held in the Aberrant's tail nearly twenty feet away.

"The fuck-?!"

My head jerked, following the trailing off beam back to something that I'd been hoping to see.

Project Recluse.

Something new from Atlas, a response to situations exactly like this, totally autonomous and packing an enormous amount of firepower. With that thing finally active, my team could actually have a chance of getting out of this alive!

My gaze snapped back to where the beam had hit… damn. It'd just blasted a chunk out of the Aberrant's side, turning it into red and black hamburger. A large insectoid leg falling from its stomach region, the threads of flesh holding it up snapping under its own weight, the other two of them on its left not doing much better–

And… was that a person-?!

Shit, was she bleeding-?!

* * *

[1] youtube: watch?v=BD3VJGDqphM

[2] youtube: watch?v=RQXe22auYOw

[3] youtube: watch?v=X1BchpNYFD0


	13. Grimm Beginnings 13

**Grimm Beginnings 13**

-o ? o-

It was like hammers were banging inside my head. And my skull was the anvil.

"Ugh… what…?"

I pushed myself out of the bed… bed? No, off the couch and…

Ugh, so loud! All these booms and bangs and bullshit!

Clamping my hands over my ears, I pushed myself towards the searing light of the window of the tower. The girl I'd brought up here had already left, what was her name again? Chrissy? Cell? No… Belle?…? No, it was C something… ugh, I couldn't think through the pounding of my head and the blur of the world around me. Ugh, Dust, I know I didn't drink _that_ much last night…

"…and who the hell's making so much noise?" I groaned out, squeezing my eyes tightly in the hope that would dull the pain. Ahh, fuck it. I shoved the half-closed curtains aside, blinking my eyes blearily against the searingly bright light of the day.

It was… the hell was going on…?

The were flashes of light and thunderous booms… and my chest went cold as I realized, even through the pain and the pounding in my head, what was happening.

The Grimm were attacking.

"No… no, nonono, the Huntsmen were supposed to get here today!" They were here, right?!

Immediately awake, my eyes went wide in spite of the pain of the bright lights searing my retinas as my gaze darted about. The tower was high enough to see over the walls, it was one of the places defenders were supposed to fall back to so that they could push the Grimm back even from inside the walls, I could see over the walls and into the clearing around this backwater town I called home… and it was a field of black smoke… of black monsters with specks of white bone and blood red eyes.

There were so many Grimm… I'd never even _heard_ of so many Grimm!

"Oh Dust."

Was- was that a flaming tornado-?! And Dust those two Grimm were _huge_! The only Grimm of that size I'd seen was the Goliath that cute Huntress had fought last month, and I did _not_ want a repeat!

Of-fucking-course one of them was that fucked up one that had been hounding the town, the other was an enormous lion thingy! The lion-like one, Nami's or something, had this huge burn on its back, but the fucked up one was obviously a mess even from here-

I caught movement in the corner of my eyes, just barely visible over the wall and whipped my head around to look. Was that a giant robot-?!

There was a high pitched whine before a beam of bright light blasted out from the robot, tracing a line through the front of the Grimm horde and it felt like an ice-pick was jammed into my ears and shook about…!

"Agh!" I cried in pain, covering my ears with my hands and flinching away from the noise and agony.

 _What in **Dust** was going on?!_

And why was the damn forest on fire?!

Like, the _entire_ forest!

I… I had to get to the shelters… right? That's where I should be going…?

I looked out at the fight. Did I though? I mean, I was as safe as I could get here… everyone that could fight was already at the walls, the guns were all firing, the booms like hammers in my head… and it'd only be _worse_ if I went outside… if they broke through the walls, the shelter wouldn't help at all, and from here I could watch all of it go on. So I could see the–

 **"██████████████████████████████!"**

The light was _blinding_ , an afterimage burned into my vision even as I fell to the wood floor, clutching my ears at the sound as my skin felt like it burned! My eyes clenching tightly shut even as the bright light shone through them.

The roar faded, and with it the blinding light.

Groaning in pain as the sound of crumbling reached my ears, the thunder of guns having paused… my eyes slowly cracked open…

The… the top of the tower was gone…

It was like it'd been cut off just a bit above head height… it'd missed my head by barely more than a foot… and… and the edges of the stone walls were still glowing orange, the top of the window slumping as it half melted– a breeze blew through the suddenly open-topped tower, the smell of smoke and burning flesh and expended Dust... I…

 _I should get to the shelters._

-o Hav the Arsenal [1] o-

"Keep firing!" I shouted over my coms, "Fire damnit!"

I held down the trigger for DkNkm, the propelled packets of Dust hurtling out in clusters, each set jerked my arms back as the glowing wire-frame of DkDkm-9 bucked and kicked. Dust continued to pour from my backpack through the blocky projectors above my arms as I fired the 'rockets' into the lines of the Grimm, the thunderous retorts of the guns picking up thankfully soon after.

Nearly everyone had gone to ground at the roar, the damn Aberrant had _blasted_ the Nemean King with its own breath weapon, which had splashed off of the larger Grimm, parting around it and ricocheting all over the battlefield and into the damn town!

A glance back, the walls were on fire-

I grit my teeth and leapt back, firing a pulse from my left hand and letting the shockwave carry me further back. I'd come down from the wall to give Project Recluse some close covering fire and now this?!

My thumb spun DkNkm's dial before pressing its activation stud, and with the sound of shattering glass the glowing wire-frame Dust-constructs broke into a thousand fragments before another weapon drew itself over my left arm. The Dust poured forth from my backpack as DkNkm-0 formed and I twisted through the air, flipping once as I leveled the weapon at the burning walls mid-air.

I pulled the trigger and held it down, the Dust-construct kicking in my hand, an almost minty smell filling the air around me as Teal Dust poured forth, my supplies were limited but I _had_ to put the fires out _now_! Pulses of half-activated Ice Dust shot out rapid fire, each one bursting into several meters worth of ice.

Two holes in the walls, both of them burning, completely inaudible over the cacophony of the Grimm and gunfire, I focused on the closer one as my feet hit the scorched grass. Did I have enough? I never carried much, it was expensive and it wasn't my favorite function of DkNkm, but this was the perfect use for it.

I grit my teeth, _feeling_ the drain on my Aura reserves as I poured them into the Dust-construct and the Dust being poured forth from it. I swept it back and forth, ice evaporating as it contacted the flames, but within only a few passes I was layering a wall of ice over the hole.

There was a tickle at the back of my neck and I scowled before spinning. A Beowulf had approached–

I introduced it to my boot.

The Beowulves head snapped back with a crack and it began to dissipate even as I spun to level DkNkm-0 at the other hole, firing carefully, sweeping it back and forth to try and put out the flames as quickly as I could. Tracer rounds visibly flew over my head from the walls, both from the militiamen and from the gun emplacements.

"Report!" I snapped out into my Scroll, working as quickly as I could to stop the flames even as I watched the gauge for my Teal Dust drop rapidly out of the corner of my eye.

"Squad One! Project Recluse' targeting systems are still wonky sir! We've had it prioritize the horde over the Giants, but its target acquisition is still off!"

"Squad Two! Walls are secure sir!"

"Squad Three–"

"Seiche–! Seiche's dead!"

My grip tightened around DkNkm's handle and I frowned, one of the Huntsmen had fallen-? "The Aberrant?" I questioned.

Caldera's voice snapped out over my Scroll, easily audible over the din of battle, "That fucking bastard! I'm going to kill it!"

I'd take that as a yes.

"Caldera!" I snapped, "Keep focused on the horde! We'll deal with the giants in time!"

"That piece of shit killed my teammate!" the fiery woman _roared_ over the com, and I had to glance back even as I swept DkNkm-0's stream of Teal Dust back and forth to confirm that the firestorm she was capable of outputting wasn't being taken away from the front lines. I let out a little sigh of relief despite the seriousness of the situation when I saw a wall of flames surge forward into the front lines of the Grimm.

But the tornados… right, without Seiche to fuel and control them, the tornados had petered out. Damn.

DkNkm beeped angrily at me, signaling its rather stark lack of Teal Dust.

 _Also_ damn.

With a quick glance I confirmed that at least the fires in the walls were out, they were still holes barely covered at all by any amount of ice, and several of the houses inside the walls were still on fire. But I was out of Ice Dust. I could do no more.

Another spin of the dial and press of the activation stud, with a shattering sound DkNkm-0 dissipated and DkNkm-4 was rebuilt.

Multiple barrels of light formed around my arms as I spun, facing the horde once more as I pulled the triggers. The glowing barrels beginning to spin up as constructed bullets began to tear into the tidal wave of the monsters, removing heads and limbs from the lesser creatures of Grimm with ease.

With a high pitched whine, Project Recluse fired its primary laser cannon once more, sweeping it across the right flank of the horde, a line of explosions trailing after the beam.

I blinked once… then twice as my brain processed what I was seeing. A black mist might have hung over the field with the sheer scale of the death of the creatures of Grimm… but… it was no longer an encroaching tidal wave of the beasts, it was…?

Were… were we pushing them back…?

Briefly, a smile crossed my face as I began to unload into the Grimm, providing covering fire for Project Recluse. With the forest ablaze and either killing the reinforcements of the Grimm or at least injuring them, the aireal forces of the Grimm vaporized by the Aberrant, we actually had enough forces here to stem the tide of the beasts.

Even if it was a the cost of a Huntress... saving this town would be worth it.

The hairs on the back of my neck began to stand up once more, and my eyes snapped over to the Giant Grimm once more. Again-?!

-o Yinyue the Golden Songbird o-

How the hell does a Grimm just shrug off a lightning bolt?!

It seemed the Aberrant was going to have to try a little harder than THAT. [2]

The lightning bolt from the Aberrant's claw set my skin abuzz with static even from this distance, I was thankful that none of ours were closer to the eldritch creature of Grimm. That level of current could have done terrible things had we been closer.

The music poured from my mouth as I pushed my Semblance as far as it could go. I was expending Aura quickly to enhance the Aura's of everyone around me, my fellow Huntsmen the only people within my range…

But it… I… it hadn't been enough to protect Seiche–

Stop. Feel bad later. Save the day now.

Praepostero Pinnae kicked in my hands as I slowly advanced beside Silf and Qrow, but as surely as a cloud must run out of rain, I was running out of ammunition. I had come prepared for a singular, terrifyingly powerful foe, not for endless hordes.

With a snarl lost in the fading roars of the Grimm and the thunder of the guns, Silf stepped up and swung his staff, my partner throwing a spread of jagged icicles into the oncoming Grimm, shredding them as we pushed our way towards the giant Grimm.

The Nemean King rose to its hind legs, its forepaws coming down on to the Aberrant, the bloodied and smaller Grimm desperately dancing backwards. It was like a wolf being assaulted by a bear without its pack, retreating beneath the blows, crimson blood going flying into the Grimm horde all around the two titans.

Qrow lunged forward, scythe spinning in his hands as he turned three Grimm into eight pieces, and I took the small moment of breathing room to reload Praepostero Pinnae and set the song to a new tempo, we'd need–

The buzzing _crackle_ of electricity and my hair standing on end interrupted my thoughts as the Aberrant threw a _net_ of electrical current forward, setting the open wounds on the Nemean King's body ablaze. The larger beast recoiled for just an instant in pain as the Aberrant leapt backwards, breaking free from the melee.

Qrow's head swung towards it, possibly seeing an opening, maybe looking for a weakness in the Aberrant, but whatever he saw made him jerk and freeze mid-swing of his scythe, "No…" It was only a reflexive swing of his weapon that kept a Beowulf from beheading him.

The Nemean King pounced, the Aberrant throwing up its arms to block the saber-toothed Grimm's forepaws from raking across its chest. My breath was stolen as the Nemean sucked in the air for its terrible roar, and to my horror it breathed out a terrible blast of heat and light that poured over the Aberrant's crossed arms, splashing outwards and deflecting at a wide number of angles. Ricocheting about like water being sprayed into a spoon.

"No!"

I nearly jumped in surprise at the sudden roar from the older Huntsmen we were paired with, and with a sudden flash and bang, Qrow almost vanished!

A scream of pain came from the Aberrant as the Nemean sustained the terrible breath weapon, the smell of burning flesh and smoke and ozone washing over us even from here, blasted out by the blazing hot roar.

Even as Silf created a jagged wall of ice around himself and I to protect us from the ricochets and heat, Qrow _ran_ across the tops of the Grimm straight towards the two titans.

With another retort of the shotguns in his scythe, our mentor launched himself past the Nemean's face, hooking his scythe in its remaining eye and tugging its head off course–!

The terrible blast scoured the burning forest, reducing the great trees to cinders as it was dragged across them, vaporizing numerous Grimm before its roar ceased with a howl of pain and Qrow let his scythe slip free, much of his momentum lost in his attack, firing his weapon once more to get further away–

And the Aberrant _roared_.

The Nemean's forepaws were thrown up high by the Aberrant before the smaller Grimm _tackled_ the saber-toothed monster and bowled it over, knocking it entirely off balance!

The Nemean began to roll to its feet, but the Aberrant was having none of it. Its claws, bloodied and torn, one arm missing its attached wing, both latched onto the Nemean's back before the Aberrant _lifted the larger Grimm above its head!_

One claw at the back of the feline Grimm's neck, the other just above its hips, the Aberrant lifted the Nemean high in the air… and began to _flex_.

Thrashing and struggling, the Nemean King was unable to escape the grip of the Aberrant as its back bowed further and further beneath the armored Grimm's efforts. The Aberrant slammed one of its taloned feet into the ground hard enough that I could _feel_ it as a tremor even here, nearly forty yards away! Smaller Grimm lunged and sunk their teeth into the Aberrant's legs, trying to bring it down even as blood dripped from the wounds in its body like crimson rain, their efforts either unnoticed or ignored.

Armored arms got progressively closer to one another, the Nemean King's back bending at a harsher and harsher angle as its legs flailed uselessly in the air.

A thunderous crack resounded through the air as something in the Nemean's back seemed to give, a terrifying screech of pain escaping the monstrosity.

It was enough.

Raising the larger monstrosity even higher over its head, the Aberrant snarled and brought the Nemean down with impossible force _and broke the Nemean's back across its armored shoulders_. Blood sprayed into the air like a crimson geyser from the rupture that opened in the Nemean King's pale stomach as its back bent at an impossible angle even for its feline spine. It was bent literally in half across the back of a creature barely half its size, and it was only able to let out a final, wet gurgle as it died.

With a shrug, the Aberrant dropped the Nemean's corpse behind it, the mass of Grimm hitting the ground with a _boom_ , sending a tremor through the ground.

And the Aberrant _roared_ with its victory. [3]

A roar interrupted by a bang.

There was the distinctive boom of Qrow's shotgun firing and the older huntsmen's aura visibly _blazing_ as the professional went _hurtling_ through the air at the Aberrant's face. I knew Qrow was fast but I'd barely been able to see hi– _the thing dodged-?!_

My jaw dropped and Praepostero Pinnae drooped. Qrow had taken off like a literal bullet, moving just as fast as a heavier Dust round could, flying through the air like a streak, his scythe deployed and aimed right at the Aberrants face. _And the Grimm had dodged_. Its head had jerked to the side like any Huntsmen-in-training might have dodged a bullet fired by an amateur-! Halfway through its roar it had simply _moved_ , jerking its head to the side as Qrow went screaming by-!

And then Qrow reminded us why team STRQ was still whispered about in the halls of Beacon.

Instead of going hurtling off into the field, he'd shifted midair in that fraction of an instant that the Aberrant had dodged, as he hurtled past its head, his shotgun had boomed again and he'd changed direction midair, the massive scythe hooking around the Aberrant's right horn just in time to spin Qrow around to the other side of its face, grabbing it by the corner of its eye with one hand as the scythe twirled once in the other before burying itself deep into the Aberrant's left eye.

And the Aberrant _screamed_ , the deafening sound not able to hide the flash of the embedded scythe firing _into_ the creatures destroyed eye and sending Qrow flying away.

I stared as the man landed on the scorched grass and _roared_ with an anger that I'd only caught a glimpse of when he'd seen his teammates destroyed weapon, "Give them back!"

It was only then I noticed the form of a person, shrouded in the interlocking but damaged limbs on the Aberrant's stomach and _covered_ in blood, and Steel's dark and distinctive form wrapped up in the Aberrant's tail.

Glowing blue flew through the air and icicles impacted with the Aberrant's head as Team Collateral rushed past us, Caldera almost screaming out, "You piece of shit!"

I glanced at the Grimm horde… now a mere scattering of burnt and damaged creatures that were being slaughtered by the Atlas project and the guns of the town–

"This is Qrow to all points! The Aberrant has Steel and Summer! Bring it down but watch your fire!"

"Sir!" I snapped reflexively and started to move, "Silf-!"

"Yeah, I know, they'll need our help!" My partner snapped back, cringing, "Damnit. Let's go already."

-o Andoriol The Alien [4] o-

Pain.

I hadn't hurt this much in… so long.

EEEEEEEEEEEQrEEEEEow?EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE–

Not long enough.

The world was ringing from the scythe scraping along my horn, I only felt meat and pain where my left eye had been, my limbs were… _heavy_ … I'd… I'd almost forgotten what _heavy_ was like…

Light flashed–

 **"No–!"** I lunged to the side reflexively, streaks of light blurring past my head–

Pain _flared_ in my body as I hit the dirt in a roll, struggling back up to my feet, claws coming up–

What– What was going– No! _Focus!_ You're going to have to try harder than that!

Past the fuzz in my head, past the blurriness of my vision, past the intoxicating mess of emotions around me, I grit my fangs together and _forced_ myself to focus past the pain– The blurs of the Hunters came at least partially into clarity, the one that'd taken my eye was nearby, six were rushing in two groups, weren't there two more–?  
 _  
Light!_ Brilliant orange-yellow surged through the corner of my vision!

I jerked my wing up as flames surged from one of the Hunters rushing at me, the heat splashing around the damaged appendage as I desperately covered my stomach, Summer– _AGH!_

A reflexive roar of pain escaped me as the flames washed over my damaged face, seeping into the cracks of my mask and burning what had been my left eye–! Summer-! This risked her-! Those bastards!

"Damnit Caldera watch your fire!" the gray and black and red Hunter shouted.

Fury _burned_ in my chest–!

 **"█████████████!"**

The flames _blew_ away from me as I screamed incoherently in rage, my wing snapping out, forcing the flames away from Summer as I desperately covered her with my other wi-... claw… all I had was a claw there now–

"I'm tryin–" My claw hovered over Summer's form, I could see her moving but I couldn't hear her heartbeat over the ringing of my horn… her skin was overly warm… I could see the singed tips of her hair and her skin was almost sunburnt… had I…? Had I hurt her in the fight…? I couldn't have… she was the light in the dark loneliness… "It's staggering all–"

She was my ray of sunshi– _FOCUS!_

With a snarl, I leapt back and _away_ from the Hunters damnit! Focus! Stop just _thinking_ and end the fight! They're risking Summer! **"STAH! STAH!"**

"Just be ready to–" Words wouldn't form– My legs nearly buckled under my own weight as I landed, my talons digging into the ground. Couldn't think straight–

 _Cold–!_

My leg wouldn't move–?! What?! Why?! My head snapped down, ice-? Ice! They'd iced my leg-!

Motion demanded my attention, making it snap back up and finding one of the Hunters magicking a _boulder at me-?!_

 _Noise_ poured forth from me as my claw snapped up to catch the jagged stalagmite hurtling towards me, snatching the rock larger than my head out of the air and tossing it aside–! Hah! Away from the other You're going to have to try harder than tha–!

 _No…_

The world slowed to a crawl, adrenaline surging through my opened veins… my eye… I could see it all in that instant–

The Hunter… the one with the scythe… he'd been riding the boulder! He was hurtling towards my head through the air, scythe raised high behind his head! His red eyes practically gleamed… he'd had to have leapt from it at the last instant as I knocked it from the air– My arms couldn't move fast enough–! His lips were pressed into a thin line, some sort of cape trailing in the air behind him–

Dodge-?! My legs were jello with some fruit in it, there's no way I could– What about intercept?! With my tail-?! The Hunter was still in it-! I couldn't use it without crushing him-!

The scythe began to descend as its wielder snarled, with my mask cracked, the weight and speed of that scythe… there was no way my bone-helm could survive it–

 **Never!** Tail wasn't an option! My winged arm began to move to intercept, to sacrifice a limb to protect my head–

It wouldn't make it–

"QROW!" Summer screamed… at least… at least Summer would be okay…

Light glinted off of the silver weapon as it moved through the air…

I... I didn't want to die…

"STOP!"

His eyes widened and the Hunter tried to turn, to alter the direction of his already moving scythe, but his momentum was too much–! Silver flashed–

 ** _!_**

 _Pain-!_

A wordless scream of agony escaped me and I nearly collapsed. My head–! My claws snapped to my skull-! My horns-!

–EEEEEEEEEEEEEW-What-?!EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE–

There was a thud as one of my horns _slammed_ into the ground– he'd cut off my horn-!

Oh god I can feel the blood spurting from the stump…

"Andy! Come on big guy–!"  
–EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE–  
"–are you okay?!"

Pain flared in my wounds… gunshots…? I staggered, trying to get out of the way, but my iced leg nearly tripped me…

Away… gotta… gotta get away… damn ice… keeping me from getting…

 ** _Away!_**

 _I still had someone to protect! [5]_

 **"EEENNUUHHHH!"** I slammed my claw into the ground as hard as I could, and the ground lost. It shattered beneath me explosively, smashing the ice as well–!

"Summer-?!" concern, fear, confusion from the scythe-user.

My tail unfurled jerkily as I turned and I dropped the Hunter I'd saved-! No monsters to attack him! Stop holding him! Slowing me down!

The temperature behind me dropped– more ice was coming my way-!

"Wait!"

I staggered, trying to get out of the way, but nothing encased me-? Doesn't matter! Got to get Summer safe!

"Qrow-?!"

"Huckle-! Flail Shield!"

A surge of heat behind me, sending sparks of pain through my horn but no fire struck me–

"Damnit Steel! Get out of the way!"

Drop her now…? No, too much fire, too dangerous here, get out of the fight, set her down, run… heal… eat… My large legs made enormous strides as I began to just _run-!_

The world jerked beneath my feet and I staggered, half turning towards– more boulders?! Damnit!

The brightly colored blurs of the Hunters were dancing between one another, they were… intercepting each other-? Not important! There was confusion and anger and worry and hatred surging through the air around me, but that wasn't important! Boulders-! Three massive stalagmites! Hurtling right at my face-!

My tail lashed out at the same time as something thinner, each swatting one of the stalagmites out of the air, the impact sending horrific pain through my tail–! NO! Despite my vision going white, I _moved!_

Strength _surged_ through my body even as my insides _burned_. I stumbled as I turned, my claws shining white as they shot up to grab the stalagmite out of the air, my claws digging into the stone even as it forced me back!

The effort was like a thousand needles in my muscles but I held the point away from my face! My claws practically _shining_ as I skidded to a halt! Hah-! Got i–

"–not getting away!"

A small impact went through the stalagmite before it began to scorch my claws, the rock beginning to glow–

"Fucking d–!"

My claws snapped away as I staggered back, the world slowing to a crawl as adrenaline surged through my burning veins. It began to balloon outwards as the temperature rapidly sent up the spectrum even before it began to fall.

Orange– Yellow– It began to swell and distort like Mt. St. Helens had–

No…

White– Blue White–

"–ie!"

It exploded.

Droplets of searing hot lava splattered on my bone armor uselessly, others scorched deep into my open wounds–! But the main mass of the rock was blown off to the side by the rocket that had slammed into it.

"The hell-?!"

Without the sharp boulder in the way, I could see the blurry form of a woman in black with red hair, literally _burning_ as she started to fall back to the earth– Her eyes met mine, and through the pain and blood… I could sense the **hatred** there…

She'd burn everything in her way to get to me…

That… _that **bitch–! I'll-!**_ I'll…

I could see an eye of glowing red reflected in her own gaze.

"Andy-!" Summer nearly screamed from her place against my stomach.

…I... I had to get away… I couldn't risk Summer anymore… no more!

My body turned back towards the forest and despite the burning agony in my bones, despite the aching pain that ran through my veins as I staggered, I ran. I ran as fast as I could. I just… Just needed to get my Sunshine far enough away to leave her to those who'll take care of her… Just… run…

"Hav! The hell-?!"

"Stand down Caldera!"

My taloned feet thundered in the scorched ground as I put distance between the Hunters and me… I… black was creeping at the edges of my vision… red was starting to seep into it from my wounds… My world narrowed to the edge of the tree line… where I'd drop off Summer… put a tree between her and the attacks… then run… find more monsters to eat and heal and run…

"Andy! Andy are you okay-?!"

I can't answer… not now, I'll–

Silver-blue light filled the right corner of my vision–

 ** _!_**

 ** **"█████████████!"****

 _PAIN!_

"Andy!"

It hurt-! It **_hurt!_** My face hit the dirt and I dug a small furrow into the scorched ground. It was like a rod of hot steel was shoved through my shoulder-! Damnit! Damnit! I tried to scream, but only a hacking cough escaped me, hot blood bubbling out of my throat as I nearly vomited–!

"Andy! Get up-! Come on big guy!"

It hurt-! Oh god it hurt-! Every twitch of my right arm sent shocks of pain through me-! Gah! Stop!

My left claw slammed into the dirt and I struggled to push myself up-

Black smoke… I collapsed to my elbow with a thud, my right arm weighed down by its still attached wing as I froze in my struggle to my knees.

I was evaporating…

"Andy…"

Everything felt like it was falling apart… my bones ached, my muscles spasmed, my veins were filled with glass… I could feel the tremors going through my body, I could feel the bits falling away and disappearing even as my head felt like it was going to explode from the inside through the fuzz of lightheadedness… and there was a star inside my chest that just burned away at me, eating at my insides.

I… I was...

"Andy-!" Summer almost sobbed–

 **But I refused.**

My left fist slammed into the ground even as I forced my aching limbs at my stomach to open up, something in my right arm gave way as I tried to bring it over, pain flared but I _refused_ to acknowledge it. My tail swung around instead to catch Summer as I opened up her protective cage-

"Andy-?! What are you-?!" Her hands clung to the legs, refusing to let go

But I didn't give her a choice, my tail wrapped around her, pulling her away, **"Stay sa'e… Rose…"**

"No! Andy! Stop!"

She held on… bless her… I don't know what I did to deserve… I wish I had more… I wish things could have been different…

No.

 **No.**

They _will_ be different!

My fangs ground together with enough force to make them _crack_ as I made myself get back up on my feet. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow, but I refuse to give up-!

Tail moving quickly, agony rippled up its length as I moved Summer away from me, nearly throwing her aside to keep her from clinging to me. She needed the Hunters, and I needed to get away from them…

"Wha-?! Oof!" I staggered forward, the world swaying as I started to move, Summer rolling to a stop. "No-! No! Andy! Stop!"

There, she was away, on the burnt grass and far from the burning forest or what remained of the monsters… and _away_ from _me_.

So… alone once more… I ran into the burning forest.

* * *

A.N. - -grunts- doesn't like links. I apologize for how nigh incomprehensible these are (as well as all previous attempts at linking, didn't realize they'd been eaten so badly)

[1] www .youtube watch?v=BD3VJGDqphM

[2] www .youtube watch?v=G5xE4tl6fUU

[3] www .youtube watch?v=v_LFKNghYi8

[4] www .youtube watch?v=G5xE4tl6fUU

[5] www . youtube watch?v=vHntpRZMiSQ


	14. Grimm Beginnings 14

**Grimm Beginnings 14**

[1] listenonrepeat watch / ?v=96KzZ_O_nr8

* * *

-o Summer Rose, Thorn of the Grimm o-

No-! No no _no!_

"Andoriol! Don't-!" Desperately, cursing every second of my immobility, I struggled to drag myself after my friend as he ran away. I'd never cursed the loss of my legs more than right now. "Damn it Andy-! Get back here!"

My muscles jerked and spasmed from residual electrical charge, further complicating my efforts to get my friend to stop! Even as the town's guns thundered, if I shouted at the top of my lungs I could be heard! If he ran away now-!

Those wounds… a missing wing, a mangled tail, his eye, his _horn_ , all of those deep gouges in his flesh and armor… a form that used to be bone white with accents of red and black was now a mangled mess of red and black, what remained of his bone armor stained red by his own blood.

"Andy!" His right arm was being weighed down by his wing and was barely holding on by threads-! The robot had punched a hole clean through with its laser!

There was a thud as someone landed beside me, "Summer!"

My head snapped to the side as I looked at my friend, "Qrow! We've got to get him! Bring him back!"

"Summer-! You-!" My dark haired friend started, concern covering his face for a moment before he shook it away, his eyes hard as he started to kneel beside me, Murder on his shoulder. "You're missing your _legs_ , you can't go chasing after a Grimm–"

My hand shot out and grabbed the front of his shirt, "Which is why _you_ have to!" I snapped, trying to force him to understand fast enough. "Qrow he's _dying_! The way he is he won't even be able to kill a Grimm to heal! He needs help!"

"Hey, Summer, don't you think that getting you some medical attent–"

"Damnit Qrow! I'll tear you a new one _later!_ He saved my life! He saved the town! And he's dying!"

-o Hav the Arsenal o-

"Damnit! It's getting away-!"

The burning woman started forward, but I interposed myself between her and the trail of the fleeing Aberrant, "Caldera. Stand down."

"You–!" The red-headed woman _snarled_ , her milky white eye glowing brilliant red with the power of the Dust around her, "I _had_ it! Why'd you get in the way?!"

"That attack could very easily have taken out both Steel and Summer." It'd been close, I'd worried that the rocket wouldn't make it in time, but I'd prevented her from putting a jet of molten rock through the Aberrant's head.

"The kid with Qrow was enhancing their Aura's!" I glanced over at the blond young man, finding him _glaring_ at the back of Caldera's head. I had a distinct impression that he hadn't been informed of the full nature of her plan beforehand, "She could've taken it!"

But something the redheaded woman seemed to have missed was that the _Aberrant_ had glowed as well – a soft white much like the shielded Summer had. "And what if you'd missed? What if the Aberrant had reacted in a way you hadn't expected?"

"It wouldn't've missed, and it would've killed that damn Aberrant!"

I didn't shake my head as I unflinchingly met her mismatched gaze, "Your grief is blinding you."

The thundering of the gun emplacements were slowing as the last of the Grimm in the clearing were slain. "That damn thing killed my friend-! My teammate!"

"So you'd do the same to Qrow or Steel?"

The words had the intended effect, making the Huntress cringe and grit her teeth, "I–! I…" Her mouth worked soundlessly for a moment before she grit her teeth, " …okay. Okay! That was fucking stupid and I'm fucking pissed, but why are you _still in my way?!_ " She gestured angrily behind me, orange flames licking at her skin that mirrored the burning forest. "He doesn't have any hostages anymore! We can hit him as hard as we need to!"

"Running off half-cocked will only risk your life and the lives of the _rest_ of your team." The burnt woman flinched away at the blunt statement. I glanced back at Qrow and _Summer_ , the _leader_ of Team STRQ who was _supposed to have been dead_ for over a month… and both of them remained where the Huntress had been tossed.

A frown crossed my face as the cloaked woman shouted at her obviously awkward and uncomfortable teammate. I felt my eyes snap about, assessing the situation.

Steel was standing in front of Caldera's teammates, preventing them from charging off on their own. His team was standing nearby, unsure as to what to do. The blond student that had come with Qrow was still trying to bore a hole in the back of Caldera's head with his eyes even as his partner stood hesitantly beside him.

Project Recluse was standing in front of the gates of the town now in Sentinel mode. Good. They'd been able to switch its programming state before it'd charged after the Aberrant.

"The thing's still weakened though!" Caldera gestured angrily, her asymmetrical haircut bouncing, "We have to hunt it down _now_ before it does this shit all over again!"

Could we even spare the manpower to do that though?

The town's walls had two gaping holes that were only partially iced over, one of the towers in the town had had its top shorn off by a stray blast, the forest around Blue Belle was still on fire and the scorched grass of the firebreak was still concealed by the sublimating corpses of the Grimm.

We had one injured and one dead Huntress to tend to as well as an area to secure.

"We still need to know more." I said simply, turning fully towards the person who'd know the most.

-o Summer Rose, Thorn of the Grimm o-

"Qrow! I'll be _fine_! Just go _after_ him damnit!" Desperately, I tried to shove him off and _after_ Andy, but my teammate held on to my shoulder, Murder having collapsed in his other hand. Damn my lack of leverage!

Andy couldn't afford to be alone, not now.

"Finally!" A feminine voice broke into the conversation, "Someone who's speaking some fucking sense!"

My head snapped around. She was a redheaded woman in a black blouse with a bunch of vials, lots of makeup, an old burn on one side of her face and a blind eye- "Caldera!"

"We need to get after that damn thing _now_ , before it gets away!"

My stomach seemed to drop out from inside of me, "What-?!" Any hopes I'd had that she'd realized what was going on disappeared, and the anger at Caldera's actions surged back, "No! No! You don't understand!"

The redhead bristled and started to open her mouth, but a uniformed hand was placed in front of her, cutting her off and drawing my attention to a military man I didn't recognize. He had sea-green hair and a strong face, in a full Atlesian uniform with a big backpack sort of thing on his back. His scroll was strapped to his chest within easy reach, and he had intricately mechanical gloves on, with several dials and triggers on them.

He sent a glance over at Caldera to confirm that the Huntress wasn't continuing before looking back at me, "We need you to help us understand Miss Rose."

"He's a person!" I tried to rush out, and it was only Qrow's hand on my shoulder that kept me from falling over as I spun to face them, "Not a Grimm! He's not a monster-!"

"Not a monster-?!" Caldera raged, her hands balling into fists, "It killed my teammate!"

That made me jerk back as if struck, "What-?! No! He wouldn't have-"

"Miss Rose," the Atlesian man interrupted, "Why are you certain of this?"

"He _saved_ me! He fought that Goliath off _with me_ and then saved my life after the fight! He was a person before he turned into a Grimm! I _know_ it sounds crazy, believe me, but–"

"Are you shitting me?!" Caldera gestured angrily, flames licking at her skin as her make-up ignited, "That thing must have messed with your damn head-!"

"Don't call him a thing!" I snapped, nearly snarling at her, "Don't you _ever_ call him that! He has more heart than most people I've ever _met_ –"

"And **it** _burnt_ the heart out of Seiche! You get that?! Your _friend_ just fucking _killed_ mine! It's fucking with you-"

"And _you_ attacked _him_ first! I saw it! I might not have been able to see much with how he was _protecting me_ , but I could see that! And even if that's true… it doesn't make what led up to it right, either!"

"Are you fucking trusting a _Grimm_?! Have you gone fucking insane?! It's messing with your head! Or did the loss of your legs fuck up your brain–"

" _He_ isn't messing with me! _He_ isn't a liar, or a monster, and _I'm not insane!_ If it wasn't for him, I'd have _bled out!_ No Grimm would _ever_ save a human! Let alone a _crippled_ Huntress!"

"Enough!" The Atlesian military man bodily interposed himself between us, "This is _not_ helpful!"

"But–" / "Don't you–!"

"I said _enough_!" His eyes swung to me, hard as a glacier, "Miss Rose, you're saying that this Aberrant is non-hostile, correct?"

 _"Yes!"_ I said with fucking _emphasis_.

"Don't tell me you're going to just go and save a Grimm-?!" Caldera nearly shrieked.

"Caldera!" The military man snapped, "Enough!"

The redhead grit her teeth, but stayed silent as hope rose in my chest–

"No, I do _not_ think we should go out and 'save' a Grimm. The purpose will be _capture_."

"What-?!" I nearly cried out, halfway to lunging forward before Qrow's hands on my shoulders stopped me.

The man with the sea green crew cut held up a hand placatingly, but his eyes were as cold as ice, "If you're right, we have a person to save. If you're wrong, or misguided, or otherwise been tricked, it's still worth it to try and contain and study a Grimm that fights other Grimm on the behalf of people and defends them; a _Grimm_ that will keep a Huntress _alive_ for _nearly a month_."

The last bit was said at Caldera, the burnt woman's painted lips turned down in a scowl as she glared at the man, but started to turn upwards before he frowned and finished, "And _your team_ will not be on this mission, Caldera."

She bristled once more, "Fucking _excuse me_?!"

"The town needs the rest of your team to seal up the holes in its walls," the man said uncompromisingly, "And _you_ are far too angry right now to even consider capture. _You_ will be taking Miss Rose back to the town to be treated."

"Are you really trying to give me a fucking order?!" Fires started to lick at her skin, her Aura starting to literally blaze. A coronoa of flames starting to form around her. Murder clicked as it expanded into its greatsword mode beside me and I grit my teeth as I cursed my lack of Blooming Moon-!

The military man's right arm began to glow a sickly green as his thumb rested on a trigger at the first knuckle of his forefinger, "I'm not trying."

Silence reigned, the gun emplacements having quieted themselves, the only sounds being the soft whine of the military man's backpack and the burning crackle of Caldera's flames as the two of them engaged in a battle of wills. I was nearly about to prompt Qrow to get in there since _I_ couldn't right now… but Caldera flinched first, twitching and looking away with a snort as her flames petered out.

It was subtle, but the military man relaxed at that, the same as me, the glow around the man's hand fading even as he touched the scroll hanging from his chest.

"This is Captain Hav to all Huntsmen, Team Collateral will be reinforcing the walls and taking Miss Rose in for medical attention. Team Shackle, Qrow, the students, and myself will be heading out into the forest to capture the Aberrant. It's stranger than we thought. Do not hesitate to put the Aberrant down if it proves to be hostile, but attempt a non-violent capture if possible."

His eyes met mine and I knew what he wanted. I gave it.

"The Aberrant should respond to 'Andoriol Marrow.'"

-o Hav the Arsenal o-

There was only one way for me to tell if Miss Rose was telling the truth or not.

Whether she'd been tricked by the Grimm or otherwise affected by the powerful Aberrant, the only way to know was to see it myself. I was willing to take the risk of capturing the unique creature for the sake of research and containment. And if the Grimm truly was a human turned Grimm like she claimed… we'd help it in time.

I moved through the trees quickly and quietly, the creature's trail had practically vanished in the course of its escape, an impressive feat considering how much it had been bleeding.

Steel's report had only strengthened the feeling in my gut, that Summer was either right, or very close to it. The Aberrant had only attacked the Grimm, it'd interposed itself between attacks and Huntsmen, it'd _saved_ Steel. Some of the noises it'd made could easily have been communication upon reflection, but it'd spent most of the fight well away from our forces and fighting the Nemean's so even if it'd been capable of communication like she claimed it likely hadn't had the opportunity to speak to anyone other than Steel.

Aside from Qrow and myself, we'd split into pairs to fan out and search for the Aberrant… this… 'Andoriol Marrow'. If any more Aberrant or Giant Creatures of Grimm were encountered, they were supposed to radio in for assistance, even Qrow and myself. I'd run across several smaller Grimm such as Chupacabra's and Beowulf's, but not even a handful of them. Miss Rose had given us all directions to the Aberrant's cavern, but they were necessarily vague with her lack of Scroll and inability to make a map–

 **"You are my sun… shine… my only sunshine…"** A soft voice, a deep rumble really that carried well through the trees drew my attention. Curious, worried, and many more things, I began moving in its direction cautiously. **"You make me happyyy… when skies are graaayyy…"**

It was… a song…?

 **"You'll never know how…"** The song paused, and I could begin to see a mass of red, black, and white through the trees, **"...how much I loved you… please don't…"** The deep voice and the white form appearing through the trees both hitched, jerking in place for a moment as it softly sung, **"Please don't take… my sunshine away…"**

I crested the small hill, looking over it towards the collapsed creature, strewn out over the edge of a hill leading up to a large cavern in the rocky face of the cliff. It seemed like it'd collapsed onto its left shoulder, its ruined right arm and wing dangling uselessly as it lay on its side, right claw stretched out towards the cavern… There was obviously a glow of fire in the cavern, even in the daylight… and the creature was bleeding profusely as black, whispy smoke rose from its body in numerous places.

The sickeningly sweet smell of Grimm blood and the coppery scent of _natural_ blood were both heavy in the air, smears of blood on the rocks leading up the hill and small gouges in the stone indicating the Aberrant had dragged itself along the ground nearly thirty meters… almost twice its own height.

"Andoriol Marrow?" I asked it, my voice loud in the small clearing around the rocky hill.

The creature turned its head, its gouged out left eye little more than a mass of dark red and brown meat, blood leaking out of the cracks in its mask and across its face, but a brilliantly green eye shone through the darkness of its visor. It tried to raise its head, but the appendage trembled before dropping back down, the interlocking plates that covered its torso rising and falling quickly in shallow breaths, each one accompanied by a soft popping noise, like bubbles… a death rattle. [1]

 **"S… Speaking…"**

Despite its size, the creature's voice was soft – little more than a rumble – and… it was tired. Unmistakably _tired_.

Grimm… did not tire.

Quietly, I pulled my scroll from its place on my uniform and set it to recording, "Miss Rose spoke highly of you."

To my surprise, the creature shifted slightly, every breath a popping, wheezing pant as it rumbled out, **"Rose…? Is… Rose okay…?"**

I hesitated for just a moment before saying, "Yes."

 **"Please…"** And the surprises didn't stop, as the creature proceeded to _beg_ , **"Take care o' her… _please_ …"**

"She'll be fine. She'll be going to a state of the art facility." After a moment's hesitation, I added, "I'll make sure nothing happens."

 **"Thank you… thank you…"** Quiet little sobs came from the large Grimm… from Andoriol, **"Did… I did something right then… did something right… Town… town is safe…?"**

"It will be," I replied as I walked slowly towards where the creature had collapsed across the rocky hill. "With the gun emplacements and focus of the Huntsmen, the town will be fine."

 **"Good… good…"** the creature took a trembling breath, trying to curl up on itself, **"Just… just be sure they're okay…"**

My scroll was trained on the creature, recording the Aberrant and its death in as controlled an environment as one could get. A Grimm that talked, even if it _hadn't_ once been a person, to even think that it was… it… it needed to be documented–

 **"You're…"** I paused, looking up from the device and its settings at the creature. Its one glowing eye slowly dimming even as it refocused on me, once more trying to raise a trembling head, **"... filming…?"**

I saw no reason to hide or lie to the creature, "Yes."

 **"Heh… heheh… hahahahah–"** the laughter devolved into a wet hacking noise as the large Aberrant, the creature curling up defensively as it did before wheezing out, a wet popping sound accompanying the sigh. **"That's… cold… real… cold… heh..."**

I said nothing, slowly walking around towards the head of the Grimm, making sure to stay out of the reach of its damaged tail just in case. I replied, hesitating for a moment. "…My mother always said I was as cold as the sea I was named after."

 **"... what's… your name…?"**

"Hav."

 **"…Hath… Hav…"** it hesitated before trying, and failing, to push itself up. Upon its collapse back to the stones, wheezing from the exertion, it softly asked, **"What… 'at can I do to help…?"**

He was just full of surprises, wasn't he…? "Miss Rose said you could heal by consuming Grimm flesh, have you not had the opportunity?" If I led a lesser Grimm here, could it-

But its response dashed the half formed thought, **"Tried… tried and couldn't…"** He shook his head weakly, a small spasm of pain going down its length at the action, **"Ate… ate and it didn't 'ork…"**

There was fear in the Grimm's deep rumble, its green eye unfocused once more as it fell silent. Chest heaving as it struggled to breath. After a moment, I asked, "What is it like for you?"

 **"Burning… inside… something's… burning…"** A small sob and it tried to curl up further, the motion weak and half finished with it slumped against the rock, **"I can… I can feel myself burning away… 'ut…. I'm cold… so cold…"** Its breathing had become even shallower, its chest rising and falling rapidly as it weakly chuckled. **"That… that was your cue to offer to light me on fire to warm me up… you 'issed it…"**

Despite myself, the corner of my mouth quirked up for just a moment. There was a soft scratching noise as cracked claws dragged across the stone, Andoriol trying to push himself up once more, the wingless arm trembling before he collapsed back to the rocks, "Andoriol Marrow."

There was an audible cracking noise, followed by not only a brief writhing from him, but a large chunk of its cracked mask falling off, exposing bloody flesh beneath… flesh in the rough shape of a man's.

His breathing hitched before he let out a keening noise of pain and I very nearly lowered my scroll. That was not the sound of a beast, it was the sound of a _person_ …

 **"It's… it's all blurry… you're blurry… I…"** weakly, he reached out towards me with a claw, to touch me… but I was too far. Another sob escaped him before he broke into a coughing fit, its entire body spasming and jerking as it did. Blood and other fluids splattered from its fanged mouth, almost pouring out in a slurry of red and violet and black as it further curled up in on itself.

Its only intact eye, still brilliantly green in the blackness of its visor, closed as it scrunched up and he whimpered, **"Don't go… please… don't go… I… I'm scared… I'm _dying_ and I'm scared… I wanted to be… I wanted to _help_ … to be happy…" **He trailed off for an instant, and I lowered my scroll, watching him in thought, **"Thought I'd be happy if I saved or helped people… that I'd die happy knowing I saved people… but I'm scared… 'lease don't go…"**

Finding an appropriate rock, I quietly set my scroll down and propped it up against it, the camera facing the Aberrant and still recording.

 **"I don't… I don't want to be alone anymore…"** I gently put my hand against his mask, causing its head to twitch, its eye opening and staring at me in shock and surprise.

"You aren't," I said calmly, my hand on a head that was as wide as I was tall. It was nothing more than a cracked mask of bone soaked in blood and scorched by flames, covering a face beneath. Despite my actions, I made sure to keep aware of its– of _his_ tail. "No more than anyone else is at the end."

 **"Tha** nk **you… tha** nk y **ou** …" He sobbed quietly, tears flowing freely from its remaining eye even as blood slowly oozed from the gaping hole where his left eye had been.

"We'll remember you for your efforts," I assured him gently.

 **"Don** 't… don't care…" he said with a weak chuckle, his voice less of a rumble now… and far more of a rasp, "That… I can… I did 'at I thought 'as right… and…and…" His eye seemed to smile in that moment, "And that's… all I need…"

There was a tickle at the edge of my senses and I started to spin, the roar of an Ursa nearby accompanying my hand moving towards the activation stud of DkNkm–

A thunderous whip-crack was accompanied by the Ursa being knocked away and slammed into a nearby tree, its head reduced to a pulp.

 **"Thi** rd… **thi** rd Ursa to that tree… **he** h…" My eyes found the tail… the already broken tail… as it literally fell apart, one half dropping to the ground as it started to aggressively evaporate, the stump slumping down as well. The flow of blood was little more than a trickle despite the size of the base of his tail.

I looked back at him, his eye attempting to drift shut as he rasped, "Just… take care o' then… 'or me… tell… 'atever story you need to… just… 'ake sure they're sa'e…"

There was a wet thud as one of the articulated plates on his chest – damp with blood and exposing muscle and flesh beneath it – began to flake away. My mouth worked silently for a moment before I spoke softly, "I'll be sure to tell Summer the truth. No matter what the Kingdoms tell the people."

"Just… tell her…" for a long moment he said nothing, the only noise being the soft, shallow pants of the large creature, a slurry of blood and fluids beneath my boots even as its body flaked away. The slitted pupil seemed to try to refocus, but it failed, "I… I made my choice… and… _and I don't regret it_ …"

It was a lie.

"I will."

"…thank you."

And with that, Andoriol the Alien, breathed in one last time, and let it out in a soft sigh. His glowing emerald eye dimmed and unfocused, his armored chest ceased to move, and his heart stopped its inexorable beat.

With only a moment's hesitation, I gave him one last respect.

I reached out, softly closing an unseeing eye nearly the size of my torso. I was able to do him at least that bit of justice. Even if he wasn't human like Summer insisted, even if he was trying to trick us despite everything we'd seen, even with all of the potential things that could have gone wrong, he deserved at least that much.

The mask beneath my hand shattered like fine china, the various bits of Grimm bone evaporating even before they hit the bloody ground beneath my feet, revealing a face that had once been human… and maybe still had been in the ways that mattered.

Cheekbones as wide as I could stretch my arms, a mouth of teeth and fangs wide enough to swallow me whole, a vestigial nose that had been covered, muscle and sinew stretched across an inner skeleton… but there was an eye that had been capable of warmth.

Silently, I took a few steps back, out of the view of the camera on my scroll, my duty done, I gave the dead their due.

-oOo-

"General Ironwood?"

"Captain Hav? Report."

"The Aberrant is dead, the primary horde around the town is thinned to lower than background Grimm activity, Project Recluse performed admirably, and Summer Rose has been recovered alive."

"That sounds wonderful. _Why do you not sound like it's wonderful?_ "

"It's… complicated sir."

"Which part? The dead Aberrant? That you've dispersed the horde? Or the alive Huntress?"

"…All of the above, sir. Every bit of it is FUBAR."

"What do you need?"

"A full airship, sir. And a Hermes Team."

* * *

 **FIN**

* * *

 **A.N.)-** So, real talk time:

The story is over.

When I was first writing this on Spacebattles, I planned out a much larger story that spanned multiple arcs and went past where the show was at the time. That's why there's characters like Yinyue or other named characters int he later sections, they were intended to become primary characters in the story later on.

The thing is? The story _ends_ here. Better than anything else, it _ends_ here because Andy _dies_. It adds far more meaning, emotional weight, and punch to the story for him to _die_ here. And so he dies.

If there was interesting things to do later, interesting dynamics or changes to the story? I'd totally cover it. But... there isn't. Sure, Summer still lives, but her being alive doesn't meaningfully change the plot. It adjusts _some_ of the characters (specifically Ruby / Yang), but has little to _no_ effect on the actual plot, and probably has a relatively small amount of effect on their personalities (Yang's a bit more reckless, Ruby's a little less awkward _maybe_ ).

Even if I kept Andy alive, without metaknowledge, his effects on the plot would be... eh. He'd have his own story, sure, but I wouldn't be able to add enough dynamicism to it to make it stand up in comparison to this.

If I came at this from the start with it better planned out? This last part would've been heavily streamlined, with fewer named characters and significantly shorter... but Andy would have died regardless.

There will be a What If epilogue, but it'll be non-canon.


End file.
